Tài liệu Electric Capitalism ppt

EELLEECCTTRRII CC CCAAPPIITTAALLIISSMM
RR EE CCOO LL OO NN II SS II NN GG AA FF RR II CC AA OO NN TT HH EE PPOO WW EE RR GG RR II DD
EEDDIITTEE DD BBYY DDAAVVII DD AA MM
ccDDOO NN AA LLDD
London
•
Sterling, VA
Cape Town
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
First published in Southern Africa in 2009 by HSRC Press
Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa
www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Published in the rest of the world in 2009 by Earthscan
Dunstan House, 14a St Cross Street, London EC1N 8XA, UK
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA
www.earthscan.co.uk
Earthscan publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and Development.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Distributed in Southern Africa by Blue Weaver
Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302
www.oneworldbooks.com
Distributed in the rest of the world by Earthscan
Dunstan House, 14a St Cross Street, London EC1N 8XA, UK
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA
Tel: +44 (0)20 7841 1930
Fax: +44 (0)20 7242 1474
Email:
www.earthscan.co.uk
© 2009 Human Sciences Research Council
The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not necessarily

reflect the views or policies of the Human Sciences Research Council (‘the Council’)
or indicate that the Council endorses the views of the authors. In quoting from this publication,
readers are advised to attribute the source of the information to the individual author concerned
and not to the Council.
Copyedited by Karen Press
Typeset by Christabel Hardacre
Cover by FUEL Design
Printed on uncoated woodfree paper by Logo Print, Cape Town
Southern Africa
ISBN (soft cover) 978-0-7969-2237-3
Rest of the world
ISBN (hard cover) 978-1-84407-714-4
Pdf
ISBN 978-0-7969-2246-5
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Contents
List of tables and figures v
Acronyms and abbreviations viii
Acknowledgements xiv
Introduction: The importance of being electric xv
David A McDonald
1 Electric capitalism: Conceptualising electricity and
capital accumulation in (South) Africa 1
David A McDonald
2 Escom to Eskom: From racial Keynesian capitalism to
neo-liberalism (1910–1994) 50
Leonard Gentle
3 Market liberalisation and continental expansion: The repositioning
of Eskom in post-apartheid South Africa 73
Stephen Greenberg

4 Cheap at half the cost: Coal and electricity in South Africa 109
Richard Worthington
5 The great hydro-rush: The privatisation of Africa’s rivers 149
Terri Hathaway and Lori Pottinger
6 A price too high: Nuclear energy in South Africa 180
David Fig
7 Renewable energy: Harnessing the power of Africa? 202
Liz McDaid
8 Discipline and the new ‘logic of delivery’: Prepaid electricity
in South Africa and beyond 229
Peter van Heusden
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
9 Free basic electricity in South Africa: A strategy for helping
or containing the poor? 248
Greg Ruiters
10 Power to the people? A rights-based analysis of South Africa’s
electricity services 264
Jackie Dugard
11 Still in the shadows: Women and gender relations in the
electricity sector in South Africa 288
Wendy Annecke
12 From local to global (and back again?): Anti-commodification
struggles of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee 321
Prishani Naidoo and Ahmed Veriava
13 South African carbon trading: A counterproductive climate
change strategy 338
Patrick Bond and Graham Erion
14 Electricity and privatisation in Uganda: The origins of the crisis
and problems with the response 359
Christopher Gore

15 Connected geographies and struggles over access: Electricity
commercialisation in Tanzania 400
Rebecca Ghanadan
Conclusion: Alternative electricity paths for southern Africa 437
David A McDonald
Epilogue 454
Appendix 1: Electricity 101 459
Derek Brine
Appendix 2: Absolute and relative electricity profiles 479
Notes on contributors 484
Index 486
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
List of tables and figures
Tables
Table 1 Benefits of electricity as they relate to the Millennium Development
Goals xvii
Table 1.1 Electrical appliance ownership in South Africa (percentages),
by race, 2006 17
Table 1.2 Southern African Power Pool membership, 2006 31
Table 1.3 Electricity capacity in Africa, by region, 2005 33
Table 2.1 Electricity sales in South Africa, by company, 1939 55
Table 2.2 Electricity generation capacity growth in South Africa, 1961–1992 63
Table 4.1 Eskom’s coal-fired power stations, 2004 120
Table 4.2 IEA energy statistics for sub-Saharan African countries, 2003 125
Table 4.3 Toxic effects of selected power plant pollutants on humans 127
Table 4.4 Environmental impacts of Eskom electricity generation, 2004–2005 129
Table 4.5 Air emissions from South Africa’s main energy producers
(tons), 2004 130
Table 4.6 Fuel combustion CO
2

emissions by intensity and per capita, 2000 131
Table 4.7 Sector emissions in South Africa, 1990 and 1994 131
Table 4.8 Summary of external costs of Eskom electricity generation, 1999 135
Table 4.9 Summary of external costs of Eskom electricity generation (per unit),
1999 136
Table 7.1 Job-creation potential of renewable and non-renewable energy
technologies 206
Table 7.2 Comparative contribution of renewables to total energy demand
(percentage), 2050 212
Table 7.3 Comparison of solar water heaters and the pebble bed technology
nuclear reactor 213
Table 9.1 Energy used, by appliance 252
Table 9.2 Households receiving free basic electricity services from municipalities,
2003–2004 256
Table 13.1 Energy sector carbon emissions, 1999 352
Table 15.1 Shifts from state-led development to market-led provision
in electricity 404
Table 15.2 Key elements of Tanzania’s electricity reforms, as of
December 2006 405
Table 15.3 South African electricity prepayment meters in Africa, 2005 409
v
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Table 15.4 A summary of Tanzania’s electricity sector development,
1908–2005 413
Table 15.5 Service connections, 2002–2005 422
Table 15.6 Household strategies for dealing with increasing energy costs 424
Table 15.7 Local electricity conditions in Manzese, Dar es Salaam, 2005 427
Table 16.1 Typology of public–public partnerships 446
Table A1.1 Resistivity of some materials at 20 °C 461
Table A1.2 Voltage and frequency standards in selected countries 465

Figures
Figure 1.1 Projected time frames for electricity demand and capacity development
in South Africa 30
Figure 1.2 Southern African Power Pool transmission networks (existing
and planned) 32
Figure 1.3 African regional power pools – CAPP, EAPP, SAPP and WAPP 33
Figure 1.4 A continental distribution network 34
Figure 1.5 Planned Western Power Corridor Project 35
Figure 3.1 Eskom employment, 1990–2005 84
Figure 3.2 Eskom and local government electricity connections, 1991–2005 86
Figure 3.3 Average cost per connection, 1992–2006 88
Figure 3.4 Eskom Enterprises after-tax profit/loss, 2000–2005 92
Figure 3.5 Eskom in Africa, 2003 93
Figure 4.1 Sectoral breakdown of electricity use in South Africa (GWh), 2002 119
Figure 4.2 Electrical generation capacity of existing plants in South Africa,
1995–2055 121
Figure 4.3 Southern African recoverable coal reserves (million short
tons), 2003 123
Figure 4.4 Employment in coal-based electricity generation in South Africa,
1980–2000 133
Figure 7.1 Comparison of carbon dioxide emissions per capita, 2001 204
Figure 7.2 Renewables scenario, 2050: how electricity demand would be met 207
Figure 14.1 Existing and proposed large hydro-electric facilities in Uganda 360
Figure 15.1 Political cartoon critiquing legitimacy of private electricity
generators 411
Figure 15.2 Tanesco revenue collections, 2002–2005 416
Figure 15.3 Electricity disconnections, 2002–2005 417
Figure 15.4 Utility public relations announcements, 2005 419
Figure 15.5 Household cooking cost comparisons using various fuels,
1990 versus 2005 426

Figure A1.1 Fundamental electric generator 466
Figure A1.2 Typical commercial electric generator structure 467
Figure A1.3 The Rankine cycle 469
Figure A1.4 The Brayton cycle 472
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
vi
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Figure A1.5 Combined cycle gas-turbine 473
Figure A1.6 Hydro-electric power plant schematic 474
Figure A1.7 Electrons and current flow in solar cells 476
Figure A2.1 Access to electricity 480
Figure A2.2 Electricity production (all types) 480
Figure A2.3 Electricity production (hydro) 481
Figure A2.4 Electricity production (oil) 481
Figure A2.5 Electricity production (gas) 482
Figure A2.6 Electricity production (coal) 482
Figure A2.7 Electricity production (nuclear) 483
vii
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
viii
Acronyms and abbreviations
ACHPR African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
AEB Atomic Energy Board (1949–1970)
AEC Atomic Energy Corporation (1970–1999)
AES Allied Energy Systems
AESNP AES Nile Power
AfDB African Development Bank
AFREC African Energy Commission
AMEU Association of Municipal Energy Undertakings
ANC African National Congress

APF Anti-Privatisation Forum
ARN African Rivers Network
ASGISA Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
BEE black economic empowerment
BPC Botswana Power Corporation
BSA British South Africa Company
CALS Centre for Applied Legal Studies
CANSA Campaign Against Neoliberalism in South Africa
CAPP Central African Power Pool
CCS carbon capture and storage
CCT City of Cape Town
CDM Clean Development Mechanism
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women
CEF Central Energy Fund
CER Certified Emissions Reduction
CESCR United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
CHP combined heat and power generation
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
COP Conference of Parties
Cosatu Congress of South African Trade Unions
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
DBSA Development Bank of Southern Africa
DEAT Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
DfID Department for International Development
DG Director-General
DME Department of Minerals and Energy
DNA Designated National Authority
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
ix

A C R O N Y M S A N D A B B R E V I AT I O N S
DOE Designated Operational Entity
DPE Department of Public Enterprises
DPLG Department of Provincial and Local Government
DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo
DWAF Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
EAC East African Community
EAP&L East African Power and Lighting Company
EAPP East African Power Pool
ECB Electricity Control Board
ECCAS Economic Community of Central African States
ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States
EDI Electricity Distribution Industry
EdM Electricidade de Moçambique
EDRC Energy for Development Research Centre
EIA environmental impact assessment
EIB European Investment Bank
ENE Empresa Naçional de Electricidade
ERA Electricity Regulatory Authority
ERIC Electricity Restructuring Inter-departmental Committee
ERP Economic Recovery Programme
Escom/Eskom Electricity Supply Commission
ESMAP Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme
ESP electrostatic precipitator
ET Africa Eskom Telecommunications Africa
EU European Union
EWG Electricity Working Group
EWURA Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority
FBC fluidised bed combustion
FBE free basic electricity

FEMA Forum for Energy Ministers of Africa
FGD flue gas desulphurisation
GDP gross domestic product
GE genetically engineered
GEAR Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy
GECOL General Electricity Company of Libya
GEPC General Electric Power Company Limited
GESCO Global Electricity Services Company
GHG greenhouse gas
GHS General Household Survey
GNU Government of National Unity
GVA Gross Value Added
HCB Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa
HSRC Human Sciences Research Council
IA Implementation Agreement
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
x
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
ICA Infrastructure Consortium for Africa
ICEM International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General
Workers’ Unions
ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
ICRAF World Agroforestry Centre
IDA International Development Association
IDC Industrial Development Corporation
IEA International Energy Agency
IEP Integrated Energy Planning
IFC International Finance Corporation
IGCC Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle
IGG Inspector-General of Government

IHA International Hydropower Association
IIEC International Institute for Energy Conservation
IMF International Monetary Fund
INEP integrated national electrification programme
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPP Independent power producer
IPPF Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility
IPTL Independent Power Tanzania Ltd
IRN International Rivers Network
Iscor Iron and Steel Corporation
IT information technology
IUCN World Conservation Union
JI Joint Implementation
LNB low-NO
x
burners
MDG Millennium Development Goal
MEC minerals-energy complex
MIG Municipal Infrastructure Grant
MIGA Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency
MP Member of Parliament
MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework
Naledi National Labour and Economic Development Institute
NAPE National Association of Professional Environmentalists
NBI Nile Basin Initiative
NECSA Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa
NELF National Electrification Forum
NEMA National Environmental Management Authority
NEP national electrification programme
NEPA National Electric Power Authority

NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development
NERSA National Energy Regulator of South Africa
NFA National Framework Agreement
NGO non-governmental organisation
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xi
A C R O N Y M S A N D A B B R E V I AT I O N S
NNR National Nuclear Regulator
NP National Party
NPT Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
NRM National Resistance Movement
NUM National Union of Mineworkers
NUMSA National Union of Metalworkers
NWSC National Water and Sewerage Corporation
O&M operations and maintenance
OCGT open cycle gas turbine
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OKM Operation Khanyisa Movement
OPEC Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries
PAC Pan African Congress
PBMR Pebble Bed Modular Reactor
PC Pulverised Coal
PCF Prototype Carbon Fund
PCRF Phiri Concerned Residents Forum
PDD Project Design Document
PEAC Pool Energétique d’Afrique Centrale
PERD public enterprise reform and divestiture
PF Pulverised Fuel
PM particulate matter
PPA Power Purchase Agreement

PPIAF Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility
PRG Partial Risk Guarantee
PSRC Parastatal Reform Commission
PV photovoltaic
PWR pressurised water reactor
RCEW Rand Central Electric Works
RDP Reconstruction and Development Programme
REA/REF Rural Energy Agency and Fund
RED Regional Electricity Distributor
RET renewable energy technology
RMPSC Rand Mines Power Supply Company
SABS South African Bureau of Standards
SACAN South African Climate Action Network
SACP South African Communist Party
SADC Southern African Development Community
Sanco South African National Civics Organisation
SANERI South African National Energy Research Institute
SAPM Southern African Power Market
SAPP Southern African Power Pool
SAR South African Railways
SAR&H South African Railways and Harbours
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
SCR Soweto Concerned Residents
SECC Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee
SHS solar home system
SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
SNEL Société Nationale d’Électricité
SNO second national fixed line operator
SoeCo State Owned Enterprises Company
Stats SA Statistics South Africa

STS Standard Transfer Specification
SWAPHEP Society for Water and Public Health Protection
TANESCO Tanzania Electricity Supply Company Limited
TAP Trans Africa Projects
TNBS Tanzanian National Bureau of Statistics
TNC transnational corporation
TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission
TREC tradeable renewable energy certificate
TSI Technology Services International
UBOS Uganda Bureau of Statistics
UCB Uganda Commercial Bank
UCG underground coal gasification
UDF United Democratic Front
UEB Uganda Electricity Board
UEDCL Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Ltd
UEGCL Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd
UETCL Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd
UN United Nations
UNEA UN-Energy/Africa
UNEP United Nations Environment Programme
UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
URC Uranium Research Committee
US EIA US Energy Information Administration
UWS Uganda Wildlife Society
VFPC Victoria Falls Power Company
VFTPC Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company
WAPP West African Power Pool
WCD World Commission on Dams
Wesgro Western Cape Investment and Trade Promotion Agency
Westcor West African Power Corridor/Western Power Corridor Project

WSSD World Summit on Sustainable Development
ZESA Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority
xii
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xiii
A C R O N Y M S A N D A B B R E V I AT I O N S
Technical abbreviations
Ω ohm
A ampere
AC alternating current
BTU British thermal unit – a unit of energy used in the USA to describe the
heat value (energy content) of fuels. A BTU is defined as the amount of
heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one
degree Fahrenheit.
DC direct current
GWh gigawatt-hour
GWh(e) gigawatt-hours of electrical output – nominally one-third the thermal
output of a generator
HVAC high-voltage AC
HVDC high-voltage DC
J joule
kWh kilowatt-hour
m/s metres per second
MW megawatt
MW(e) see GWh(e) above
rpm revolutions per minute
TWh terawatt-hour
V volt
W watt

Watt-hour units
1 watt-hour: one watt-hour is the amount of electricity expended by a one-watt load
(e.g. a light bulb) drawing power for one hour. A 50-watt light bulb will
consume 500 watt-hours of energy if left on for 10 hours.
10
3
watt-hours = 1 kWh (kilowatt-hour)
10
6
watt-hours = 1 MWh (megawatt-hour)
10
9
watt-hours = 1 GWh (gigawatt-hour)
10
12
watt-hours = 1 TWh (terawatt-hour)
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xiv
Acknowledgements
This book is a product of the Municipal Services Project, a multi-partner research,
policy and educational initiative examining the restructuring of municipal services
in southern Africa. The Project’s central research interests are the impacts of
decentralisation, privatisation, cost recovery and community participation on the
delivery of basic services to the rural and urban poor, and how these reforms
impact on public, industrial and mental health.
Research results are disseminated in the form of books, occasional papers, a project
newsletter, academic articles, popular media, television documentaries and the
internet (see www.queensu.ca/msp for a full listing of material).
Research partners include Rhodes University (South Africa), the International
Labour Research and Information Group (South Africa), Queen’s University

(Canada), the Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa), Equinet
(Zimbabwe), the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, and the Canadian
Union of Public Employees. The Project is funded by the International
Development Research Centre of Canada.
My first thanks go to the contributors to this collection, most of whom have spent
a lifetime researching and writing about these issues. It was a privilege to work with
such talented and dedicated people.
I would also like to thank Garry Rosenberg of HSRC Press, who has been a
supportive and professional publisher, committed to providing publicly accessible
academic research. Peer review comments from anonymous referees on the
original manuscript were very useful, as was input from Ben Fine and Vishnu
Padayachee on some of the conceptual material.
Assistance from Karen Cocq and Derek Brine was instrumental in pulling together
data for the Statistical Appendix. Thanks also to Toby Moorsom for help with
literature reviews on (sub)imperialism and Mélanie Josée Davidson for technical
assistance with some of the figures. Permission to reproduce various illustrations
was kindly provided by FT Sparrow, Brian Bowen and Zuwei Yu of Purdue
University, AV Smirnov of West Virginia University, the SASI Group (University of
Sheffield) and Mark Newman (University of Michigan).
This book is dedicated to researchers and activists on the ground in (southern)
Africa struggling for a more just and sustainable form of production and
distribution of electricity on the continent.
A luta continua!
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xv
INTRODUCTION
The importance of being electric
David A McDonald
This book is about the importance of electricity in Africa. Although much of the
discussion focuses on South Africa (largely because that country dominates the

electricity sector on the continent), there are important lessons to be learned for
the continent as a whole, not least because of the aggressive expansion of South
African capital and the South African state into other parts of Africa to develop and
control the electricity market.
At the centre of this discussion is a paradox: Africa is the most under-supplied
region in the world when it comes to electricity, but its economies are utterly
dependent on it. This contradiction is explained in part by the enormous
inequalities in electricity access, with mining and industry receiving abundant
supplies of cheap power whilst more than 80 per cent of the continent’s residents
remain off the power grid (see the maps in Appendix 2 for comparisons within
Africa and with other regions of the world).
Africa is not unique in this respect, but the inequities of infrastructure investments
and decision-making control are particularly pronounced here – especially in
South Africa – due to the inherent unevenness of what I will call ‘electric
capitalism’. I discuss this phrase at length in Chapter 1, outlining both its
theoretical and metaphorical utility (and limitations). My central argument is that
electricity has become an integral part of all capitalist activity and that we can best
understand the inequities of its availability and affordability by looking at the
(neo-liberal) market dynamics within which it operates. Electricity is obviously
not the only factor to consider when studying capitalism on the continent, but
given the electricity-intensive nature of the region’s economies, and massive plans
for electricity expansion, it is essential to investigate how electricity fits into the
larger dynamics of capitalist accumulation and crisis in Africa.
Chapter 1 also discusses the use of the phrase ‘recolonising Africa’, which forms part
of the subtitle of this book. An anticipated doubling of electricity needs within
South Africa over the next 20 years, coupled with growing foreign direct investment
on the continent by South African capital, has led to plans for a rapid expansion of
electricity generation and distribution capacity on a regional, and even continental,
scale. South African capital (public and private) is not the only party interested in
this electricity expansion – American, European and Asian firms are also active in

Africa – but South Africa is particularly dependent on this electric power capacity
growth, and is well poised to direct and control this particular set of resources.
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xvi
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
In many ways the rush to build electricity capacity today is akin to the 19th-
century ‘scramble for Africa’, with electricity grid lines replacing the colonial
railway lines of yesteryear. This is not a perfect analogy, theoretically or empirically,
but it does serve to convey both the scale and the speed at which these sectoral
developments are taking place and their potential long-term impacts on the
continent. From concrete investments in hydro-power plants and distribution
lines, to the more abstract diffusion of neo-liberal ideology and management
strategies, South Africa is at the forefront of a recolonisation of the continent, from
‘the bottom up’.
Not all the chapters in this book utilise these conceptual frameworks. Nor do they
all discuss developments in the electricity sector outside South Africa. Collectively,
however, the chapters offer an in-depth review of key electricity restructuring
developments in the southern African region, shedding light on the larger social,
economic, ideological and spatial dynamics shaping electricity reforms elsewhere
on the continent – with relevance, it is hoped, for an understanding of
developments in this sector in other parts of the world.
This is a momentous time in the electricity sector in South and southern Africa.
The multi-billion dollar expenditures planned over the next 20 years constitute the
most significant investments ever made in electricity on the continent, with far-
reaching consequences affecting the lives of millions of people. The South African
state has made the electricity sector one of its key development objectives,
promising to invest R150 billion in infrastructure over the next five years alone,
dwarfing all other sectoral state expenditures.
In some respects, these are welcome and long overdue investments. As the
voluminous literature on electricity attests, there is a wide range of potential

‘goods’ associated with the expansion and upgrading of electricity services, and
there are millions of people in South and southern Africa who would benefit from
expanded electricity services.
Much work has been done to explore the positive relationships between human
well-being and electricity consumption. Though not exhaustive, Table 1
summarises some of these benefits, as they relate to the United Nations’
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
But so, too, is there a long list of potential ‘bads’ associated with electricity, with
many of the items listed in Table 1 having a possible negative flip side. As many of
the chapters in this book attest, ‘business as usual’ in the electricity sector will be
an environmental catastrophe in much of Africa. From the dirty coal-fired
electricity generation stations of South Africa to nuclear waste, to the flooding,
siltation and loss of biodiversity associated with hydro-electric dam developments,
an unaltered electricity growth path would counter many potential gains.‘Business
as usual’ would also mean social oppression and forced relocation for hundreds of
thousands of people who find themselves in the wake of these infrastructural
developments.
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Table 1: Benefits of electricity as they relate to the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Benefits of electricity
Goal
Eradicate extreme poverty Refrigeration
and hunger (MDG-1) Better cooking methods
Easier fuel-gathering
Irrigation (through pumping)
Job creation
Achieve universal primary Allows for study after dark.
education (MDG-2) Attracts teachers to rural areas.
Allows for use of latest media.
Frees up children’s time from household and other chores to

attend school.
Promote gender equality and ‘Traditional’ women’s tasks become easier.
empower women (MDG-3) Lighting of streets makes travelling safer.
Access to education may increase as time spent gathering fuel
and water, and cooking, decreases.
Reduces indoor air pollution.
Reduce child mortality Permits access to better services and improved hospitals.
(MDG-4) Reduces indoor air pollution.
Frees up time for parents to spend with their children.
Allows for better water and effluent treatment stations.
Improve maternal health Enables access to better services and improved hospitals,
(MDG-5) including operating theatres.
Refrigeration increases the number of tests and
medication/vaccines that can be stored.
Allows for use of electronic equipment for pre- and
post-natal care and monitoring.
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria Allows for better-equipped medical facilities.
and other diseases (MDG-6) Local clinics can be equipped with modern treatments and
vaccinations due to refrigeration.
Ensure environmental Potential renewable sources of electricity can be developed.
sustainability (MDG-7) Deforestation and soil erosion can be reduced.
Sources: This summary is drawn largely from Flavin and Hull Aeck (2006: 12) but there is a wealth of
literature on the topic (see for example Barnes 1997; Barnes & Floor 1996; Ghanadan 2004; Ha & Porcaro
2005; Hulscher & Hommes 1992; Munasinghe 1989; Pasternak 2000; Rehfuess et al. 2007; Spalding-Fecher
2003; UN Energy 2005; World Bank n.d.)
But even if infrastructure is built in ways that minimise or avoid these social and
environmental problems, there is a host of other operational inequities which can
arise from electricity’s production and distribution. Pricing and user fees can make
electricity unaffordable for many, forcing people to under-consume and/or
practise unsafe energy methods, once again undermining potential benefits.

Management systems (such as privatisation) can also create multi-tiered delivery
xvii
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xviii
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
systems with vastly different degrees of quality. Both can serve to ‘contain’ people
in poverty, limiting expectations and restricting access to this important resource.
We must also ask for what purpose electricity is being produced. Although
electricity can undoubtedly make life easier, more interesting and more
pleasurable, at what point is it simply a vehicle for promoting consumption? Light
bulbs, computers and music systems are conveniences that many of us enjoy, but if
electricity is simply a vehicle for promoting economic growth (‘growth for
growth’s sake’, in Marx’s terms), it is also problematic.
Not all of electricity’s ‘goods’ and ‘bads’ are discussed in this book. Some are taken
up in detail while others are merely touched upon. Nevertheless, the chapters
included here provide powerful evidence of an electricity restructuring
programme in South and southern Africa gone terribly wrong – one that generates
enormous ‘goods’ for a relative few, while perpetuating poverty, illness, social
exclusion and environmental decay for many, and serving as little more than a
platform for economic growth for capital.
This is not to suggest that there have not been important gains made on the
electricity front, particularly in South Africa. Millions of South African households
have been connected to the grid since the end of apartheid and there have been
more progressive systems of pricing (including ‘lifeline’ tariffs) put in place.
It is the larger picture that we are after here, however – a more global theoretical
and empirical review that cuts through the rhetoric of the ‘development state’. Our
intention is to get beyond superficial numbers to explore the nature of
expenditures taking place, the rationale for electricity infrastructure investments,
the types of technologies being employed and the real beneficiaries of massive

public spending.
In this regard it is, indeed, largely ‘business as usual’ in South Africa. The mining
and industry sectors remain the primary beneficiaries of state electricity
expenditures, but these firms are joined by a growing (urban) services sector that
has begun to dominate the South African economy. These firms, along with the
transnational elites that run them, have begun to reshape the electricity sector in
important ways, including demands for its liberalisation, such as various forms of
privatisation. I refer to this new dynamic in Chapter 1 as the ‘minerals–energy
complex (MEC)-
plus
’, an expansion on a MEC conceptual apparatus developed by
Fine and Rustomjee (1996) in their seminal work on the subject in the 1990s.
Chapters 2 and 3 provide a detailed look at Eskom – the large, state-owned
electricity generator and distributor in South Africa. One of the largest electricity
utilities in the world, Eskom is the institutional giant on the continent, driving and
shaping much of the restructuring currently taking place, in collaboration with the
South African state and South African capital. In Chapter 2, Leonard Gentle
provides an historical overview of Escom/Eskom, from its initial days as a
nationalised, Keynesian entity through to its role as a state- and class-building tool
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xix
I N T R O D U C T I O N
during apartheid, and finally to its early stages of neo-liberal reform shortly before
the dismantling of formal apartheid. What Gentle makes clear is the way in which
Escom (as it was called before the Afrikaans acronym shift) facilitated capitalist
growth from its very inception. He shows that, despite shifts in state ideology, it
continued to play this role for decades, with as much continuity as difference in its
operational mandate and ideological orientation during apartheid and after.
In Chapter 3, Stephen Greenberg looks at reforms in Eskom since 1994, with a
focus on its deepening commercialisation and its forays into the rest of the

continent. Although scaled back somewhat after initial failures outside South
Africa with Eskom Enterprises, Eskom as a whole remains a major player in the
electricity sector on the continent, offering human and capital resources that
overwhelm all other players and which work to leverage open new electricity
markets.
Chapter 4, by Richard Worthington, looks at the coal-fired electricity market in
South Africa. With approximately 90 per cent of South Africa’s current electricity
production coming from (dirty) coal-fired stations – helping to make South Africa
one of the worst contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world on a per
capita basis – coal will remain a dominant feature of the South African electricity
landscape for many years to come. There is also considerable potential for
expansion in the region. Efforts to clean the industry are examined, but business-
as-usual would appear to be the most likely trajectory.
Chapter 5 examines the potential for hydro-electric developments in the region,
with a particular focus on Inga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Located
on the Congo River, downstream from Kinshasa, current and future hydro
developments at Inga represent the largest single-point source of hydro-electricity
in the world (with some 100 000 megawatts of potential energy). This is the holy
grail of electricity development in Africa, with the potential to more than double
electricity capacity on the continent. It also serves as the pivot for a planned
continental energy grid that could see electricity exported throughout Africa and
as far away as Europe and the Middle East. Terri Hathaway and Lori Pottinger
explore these developments.
Nuclear energy is the subject of David Fig’s analysis in Chapter 6. With only one
nuclear power generating plant on the continent, near Cape Town, Africa is a small
global player in this subsector. But with concerns over greenhouse gas emissions,
and efforts to build new, home-grown ‘pebble bed’ technology in South Africa,
nuclear power is back on the agenda in a significant way, with the South African
state investing billions of rands in research and development and with plans for a
new commissioned station within the next 5–10 years. Links to the nuclear

weapons industry remain, however, and Fig paints a grim picture of secrecy and
lies that hark back to the bad old days of apartheid and the Cold War.
Liz McDaid explores the potential for ‘alternative’ sources of electricity in Chapter 7.
Although significant potential for such energy sources exists in southern Africa in
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
xx
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
particular – with its abundant supplies of sun and wind – little has been done to
invest in the technologies, infrastructure or management systems required to roll
them out on a large scale, once again suggesting ‘business as usual’ for capital
accumulation patterns in the region when it comes to electricity. Lip service is paid
to alternative energy by the South African state, but this serves more to illustrate
the attempts by the African National Congress (ANC) to portray themselves as
‘progressive’ and ‘developmental’ on the environmental front while moving ahead
with a ‘business as usual’ agenda.
Chapter 8 moves us more directly into the realm of electricity policy, with a look
at prepaid electricity meters. South Africa has become a continental and world
leader in this technology, exporting millions of prepaid meters around the globe.
Peter van Heusden looks specifically at the experience of the City of Cape Town,
but he offers a history of prepaid meters in South Africa as a whole and highlights
their role in neo-liberal cost recovery regimes and the inherently unfair and
unequal nature of the way they operate, forcing low-income families to cut
themselves off from electricity by terminating their consumption at the point
when they can no longer afford to buy more.
Greg Ruiters examines the South African government’s ‘free basic electricity’
programme in Chapter 9. Introduced as an ANC election promise in 2000, free
basic electricity in the form of a free block of 50 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of
electricity per household per month has been slowly rolled out by the state; it is
designed to ensure access to a ‘lifeline’ supply of electricity for all. Ruiters criticises
the policy for being too stingy in its allocation and uneven in its rollout. Most

importantly, he argues that ‘free electricity’ has been used as a neo-liberal ploy
to contain low-income consumption of electricity at a ‘basic’ level, forcing
households which consume more than 50 kWh per month to pay relatively high
prices for consumption above this level, and thus failing to substantively address
the enormous inequalities in electricity access in the country.
Chapter 10 looks at electricity-related legislative and constitutional developments
in South Africa and explores how socio-economic rights are affected by electricity
commercialisation. Constitutional expert Jackie Dugard notes that there are no
explicit constitutionally defined rights to electricity, as there are for water and other
amenities, but argues that the state is nonetheless responsible for ensuring adequate
access to and affordability of safe and reliable supplies of energy, and that local and
national authorities have failed to deliver on these commitments in many respects.
In Chapter 11, Wendy Annecke looks specifically at the gendered nature of
electricity inequities in South(ern) Africa, arguing that women and girls bear
the brunt of unequal electricity access – an injustice made worse by the
commercialisation of the sector and by hardline policies of cost recovery, making
the difficult lives of poor, black women even harder.
Prishani Naidoo and Ahmed Veriava write about social movements in the electricity
sector in Chapter 12, with a focus on the sector’s most active organisation in South
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Africa, the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC). Once the epicentre of
electricity activism in the country (and arguably on the continent), the SECC has
been through difficult times of late, an indication of a weak resource base for anti-
privatisation activist organisations, as well as differences of opinion on activist
strategy. Whether the anti-privatisation movement in South Africa will learn and
strengthen from these experiences, or remain fragmented, remains to be seen, but
Naidoo and Veriava’s review provides an insightful look into one of the most
dynamic social movements in Africa.
Chapter 13 by Patrick Bond and Graham Erion tackles the controversial world of
carbon trading. First introduced in Europe, carbon trading is being hailed by neo-

liberal pundits around the world as an essential way to reduce global greenhouse
gas emissions. The South African state has latched onto this policy framework as
well, but Bond and Erion demonstrate its hollow conceptual and empirical
foundations, arguing that carbon trading allows industry to eat its cake and have it
too, doing little or nothing to address South Africa’s inordinately high greenhouse
gas emission level, much of it from (coal-fired) electricity production.
Chapters 14 and 15, by Christopher Gore and Rebecca Ghanadan respectively,
provide detailed reviews of the electricity sectors in Uganda and Tanzania,
highlighting their links to powerful South African and other international
interests. In both cases we see the adoption of neo-liberal investment and
management strategies, with electricity provision and pricing in these two
countries being just as unequal as it is in South Africa. These two case studies are
not intended as proxies for the rest of the continent, but they do provide concrete
evidence of the kinds of managerial colonisation referred to above that is sweeping
the electricity sector in Africa (as it is with other core public services).
The concluding chapter provides a brief discussion of possible alternative visions
for electricity developments in South Africa and on the continent as a whole. It is
not intended to be comprehensive in geographical scope or strategic detail but it
does highlight the need (and potential) for more sustainable, democratic and
equitable forms of electricity production. Here it is argued that there are two basic
options for progressive activists. The first is to take a reformist approach to the
sector, looking for ways to ameliorate the worst excesses of unequal pricing,
investments and environmental decay, such as lobbying states to raise free basic
supplies of electricity, putting an end to cut-offs to low-income households,
banning prepaid meters and introducing more renewable energy technologies.
None of these tasks will be easy, but gains have already been made in some areas
and there is support across a wide spectrum of groups for many of these initiatives.
But it can also be argued that ‘electric capitalism’ is inherently unequal and
unsustainable, requiring a much more radical anti-capitalist approach to reforms
in the sector. The latter part of Chapter 16 explores these ideas and the potential

that exists for these more fundamental changes. The epilogue briefly considers
changes that have taken place in the electricity sector since the chapters of this
I N T R O D U C T I O N
xxi
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
book were first drafted.
Finally, two appendices are included in the book. Appendix 1 by Derek Brine, is
called ‘Electricity 101’; it provides a lay introduction to what electricity is, how it is
generated and distributed, and the technical options that exist for its production.
Though taken for granted by many of us, electricity is an enormously complex
entity which poses unique technical challenges – all with important social,
economic, spatial and environmental implications. Most important, perhaps, is the
fact that electricity cannot be stored. Unlike water, which can be treated and
stockpiled until it is needed, electricity must (with some exceptions) be used the
instant it is generated, creating capacity challenges that do not exist with other
‘commodities’.
Having said that, electricity production is a relatively straightforward technical
process that has changed little in its core operating principles since the late 1800s.
This technical appendix illustrates both the complexities and the simplicities of
electricity, demystifying its physical properties and shedding light on the potential
and limitations of this special resource.
Appendix 2 provides a visual comparative reference for the electricity sector on the
African continent, illustrating differences within Africa and between Africa and
the rest of the world. Note that colour versions of these maps plus an overview
of key electricity and energy statistics are available for free download at
/>Please click on the file ‘Electronic Appendix: Statistical data’.
A note on racial terminology
Although apartheid-era racial classifications are a social construct with no
objective significance, the legacies of apartheid and the heavy correlation between
race and class in South(ern) Africa are such that racial classifications remain an

integral part of political analysis. There are, however, many different versions of
racial terminology, and a brief explanation of the use of terms in this book is in
order. Following the tradition of the anti-apartheid movement,‘African’,‘coloured’,
‘Asian’ and ‘white’ will be used to describe the four major racial categories of
apartheid South Africa, with the most common use of upper and lower case letters
being adopted. The term ‘black’ is employed to refer to Africans, coloureds and
Asians as a whole, in recognition of their common oppression under apartheid.
In conclusion, it must be noted that much is at stake in the electricity restructuring
processes taking place in southern Africa at the moment. From public health to
gender relations, environmental sustainability, definitions of the state, the rights of
citizens, the role of social movements, African integration, and the future
trajectory of capitalism on the continent, electricity restructuring represents one of
the most important contemporary developments in Africa. It is hoped that this
volume will contribute theoretically and practically to this critical debate.
E L E C T R I C C A P I TA L I S M : R E C O L O N I S I N G A F R I C A O N TH E P O W E R G R I D
xxii
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
References
Barnes DF (1997) Tackling the rural energy problem in developing countries.
Finance &
Development
34: 11–15
Barnes DF & Floor WM (1996) Rural energy in developing countries: A challenge for
economic development.
Annual Review of Energy and the Environment
21: 497–530
Fine B & Rustomjee Z (1996)
The political economy of South Africa: From minerals–energy
complex to industrialisation
. London: Hurst & Company

Flavin C & Hull Aeck M (2006)
Energy for development: The potential role for renewable energy
in meeting Millennium Development Goals
. Washington DC: Worldwatch Institute
Ghanadan R (2004) Electricity reform in developing and transition countries: A reappraisal.
Energy
31(6/7): 815–844
Ha P & Porcaro J (2005) Energy and the Millennium Development Goals: The impact of rural
energy services on development.
Journal of International Affairs
58(2): 193–209
Hulscher WS & Hommes EW (1992) Energy for sustainable rural development.
Energy Policy
20(6): 527–532
Munasinghe M (1989) Power for development: Electricity in the third world.
Institution of
Electrical Engineers Review
35(3): 101–105
Pasternak AD (2000)
Global energy futures and human development: A framework for analysis
.
Washington: US Department of Energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Rehfuess E, Mehta S & Pruss-Uston A (2007) Assessing household solid fuel use: Multiple
implications for development.
Environmental Health Perspectives
114(3): 373–378
Spalding-Fecher R (2003) Electricity and externalities in South Africa.
Energy Policy
31(8):
721–735

UN-Energy (2005)
The energy challenge for achieving the Millennium Development Goals
.
United Nations. Accessed 20 December 2007,
/>World Bank (n.d.)
Rural energy and development for two billion people: Meeting the challenge for
rural energy and development
. Accessed 20 December 2007,
/>Paper_Improving_Energy_Supplies.pdf
I N T R O D U C T I O N
xxiii
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za
CHAPTER 1
Electric capitalism: Conceptualising
electricity and capital accumulation
in (South) Africa
David A McDonald
On a global scale, the South African economy is uniquely dependent on
electricity and is uniquely electricity-intensive. (Fine & Rustomjee 1996: 8)
A short circuit on a high-voltage transmission line near Cape Town
automatically tripped the reactor’s single functioning generator, resulting
in one of the worst crises in South Africa’s post-apartheid history…
[A] catastrophe. (Hammer 2006)
Power failures in Cape Town and elsewhere in South Africa in late 2005 and early
2006 made front-page news across the country for months. After decades of reliable,
and seemingly endless, supplies of cheap electric power, white urban residents and
South African industry were faced with their first real electricity ‘crisis’.
Black South Africans had experienced electricity crises for most of their lives, of
course, having been left off the power grid entirely or having been provided with

services of such low quality, or at such high prices, as to effectively make electricity
an inaccessible luxury good.
This latter situation is changing. Efforts to electrify townships and rural areas
began in the 1980s and accelerated dramatically after the end of apartheid. In fact,
South Africa has electrified low-income areas on a scale, and at a pace, that is
unprecedented in modern history. Nevertheless, there are still major disparities in
electricity access and affordability along race and class lines.
The electricity experiences of both the rich and the poor are relevant to this
chapter. On the one hand, power outages in suburban and commercial South
Africa reveal the dependence of the country’s economy, and middle-class lifestyles,
on electricity. On the other hand, ongoing inequalities in electricity access reveal
just how uneven capitalist development has been in post-apartheid South Africa
and how electricity provision exemplifies the inherently unequal nature of neo-
liberal market economies.
I will discuss both of these points below, through the lens of what I call ‘electric
capitalism’. This is an odd turn of phrase, however, and one that requires some
1
Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za