The No Electricity Test Of 2022
This year has been a real test for anyone living in South Africa as having days of no power cuts is seen as a luxury now. Last weekend the power utility made an announcement that we could have a weekend off as there would be no power cuts. How sad is that as this is not normal yet it is the reality we have to face each day.
I take my hat off to businesses that have managed to make it this far as if anything is going to test your resolve this will. We are in spring which should signal the end of load shedding for this year, but being in Africa this will not happen.
This will take years of upgrades as they need to not only repair what is broken which is most of the infrastructure, but add in filters etc to reduce carbon emissions. South Africa is still burning coal for it's electricity and to reach the carbon emissions agreed to in Paris back in 2015.
What I find funny is we all bitched in 2021 at how bad things were and never thought it could deteriorate to this extent. We had a power cut last night and the next one is in the early hours of tomorrow morning so at least that is more like normal living with a hiccup here and there.
As a failed SOE offering no real service it is kind of weird to know that they are the 4th best employer in the country employing 44 772 people with an average salary of R61 000 per month or close to $3500 if converted to dollars. This is a gravy train for those involved as the extra benefits for those employees tops out at a whopping R33 billion per year. One would think with such a large work force on decent salaries they would be on top of things as why would you pay for no service delivery.
If we compare the tariffs that fund these salaries compared to inflation then we see a similar pattern emerging. Since 2007 where inflation has risen by 134.8% compared to Eskom tariff increases which rose by 753.8%.
The strike earlier in the year by the Eskom employees was about their demands for wage hikes as if they weren't earning enough. The 7% offered was rejected as they wanted double digits as a minimum. On top of that their demands were for an increase (double) in car and housing subsidies (benefits). There were 53 other demands which one of them was an 80% medical aid (private) contribution by the employer. Most companies offer a 50/50 split and if you want a better medical aid package you pay the difference.
This doesn't paint a picture of positivity and hope as knowing the workforce they have contributed to the problems with sabotage and neglect. This is not going to improve anytime soon and expect at least another 4 years of this which will drive me mad and why moving is the only sane option.
One DApp that has done very well out of this is the called EskomSePush which is meant to sound like something else which is a local swear word. They are at least up to date and reliable on their info which I hadn't been using up until yesterday. Last night I was cooking only for the power to go out and had to go finish dinner on the barbecue outside. I was the only one unaware as I was using the free app which was wrong again lol. We live and learn and if you don't pay you cannot complain apparently.
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