[castigatio]

Out of curiosity - of all the reasons for underinvestment in and failure of public utilities in SA why do you find this one interesting? In the case of SA the failure is almost entirely attributable to the policies and practices of the government over the past 30 years. No amount of investment in the public power utility would make any difference - because all the money that goes in goes straight out via corruption and nepotism.

Those South Africans who can afford to go off the grid have not opted out of public utilities - public utilities are approaching non-existent - forcing people to spend on alternative energy just to have the luxury of having lights in their homes at night or cooking a meal.

[woodruffw]

I find them all interesting, it was just one that's been on my mind. We see the same thing happening (albeit on a smaller scale) in other countries with semi-mature power grids with high Gini coefficients.

[castigatio]

Got it thanks - interesting that it's a general phenomenon.

[rovolo]

When you say "past 30 years", I can only assume you blaming the issues on the end of Apartheid in SA. What do you think the Apartheid government was doing right? What do you think the dissolution of legal Apartheid did wrong?