There should be a simple enough formula that could marry our abundance of sun with the mountain of loot Trevor Manuel is sitting on, to fix the electricity crisis, quick sticks.The latest treasury figures show that the budget surplus this year will be R18,5-billion.
A couple of months back, driving past one of those service stations that advertises its prices on a large board on the street, I noticed that diesel was quite a bit more expensive than petrol. I thought that whoever had the job of putting up the prices had got the two mixed up, writes Kevin Davie.
When business schools look for case material in object lessons on how not to run an enterprise, Eskom has no peer and no precedent in South Africa. Its January wipeout where it shut down the mines and hobbled the country’s growth prospects, is breathtaking in both its scale and impact.
If you’re worried about rocketing petrol prices — which hit R8,25 a litre in Gauteng last week and are set to increase further — you can take some comfort from the fact that reform of the fuel sector is finally under way, with the promise of a freer, more efficient fuel market kicking in early next year.
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/ 15 February 2008
As with other electricity users in this country, I pay a levy on my usage to fund demand side management (DSM) programmes, intended to reduce overall Âelectricity consumption. I was keen to get some of this money back in the form of the new incentive or subsidy available via Eskom to promote the use of solar water heaters, writes Kevin Davie.
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/ 2 February 2008
Nigeria is famous as a country with abundant oil, but no fuel. Now add South Africa as a country rich in coal, but poor in power. So bad has the energy crisis become that Eskom has been running with a quarter of its capacity out of service. Effectively, one of every four power plants is standing idle.
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/ 25 January 2008
South Africa has plenty of energy available. The problem is, we don’t have enough power. Some of the country’s biggest businesses have been queuing up to sell power to Eskom. The potential power on the table — all 5 000MW of it — is almost equivalent to two Koeberg-sized nuclear power stations.
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/ 24 January 2008
If your household is an above-average user of electricity, say complete with mod cons such as a swimming pool, jacuzzi, a full suite of appliances, not to mention a bar fridge, a couple of television sets and computers, a geyser or two, the odd gaming console and sexy up- and down-lights, chances are you are paying about R2 000 a month in electricity, writes Kevin Davie.
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/ 11 January 2008
The significant other and I found ourselves owning two cars with a combined engine capacity of 7,2 litres. Bought before 2000 when oil was below $20 a barrel, these beasts were hardly fuel-efficient or modest about contributing to a warming planet. After some research we bought a 2,5-litre Subaru Forrester, but delayed selling one or both of the beasts as I probed our best option.
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/ 11 January 2008
The significant other and I found ourselves owning two cars with a combined engine capacity of 7,2 litres. Bought before 2000 when oil was below $20 a barrel, these beasts were hardly fuel-efficient or modest about contributing to a warming planet. After some research we bought a 2,5-litre Subaru Forrester, but delayed selling one or both of the beasts as I probed our best option.