After unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic pylon near Lethabo Power Station in the Free State in November 2021, almost causing the country to plunge into stage 6 load shedding, Eskom’s chief executive officer André de Ruyter declared: ‘This was clearly now an act of sabotage and I think we can call it as such.’ Who was behind this, and what is their ultimate goal?

Since his appointment in January 2020, De Ruyter has faced intense opposition from within the power utility as he attempts to clean up corruption and return the electricity company to a semblance of its former glory. He is not alone. Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and other trusted allies in Eskom have also come under intense fire. From forensic investigations and botched probes to accusations of racism, De Ruyter and Oberholzer have spent significant amounts of time fending off allegation after allegation. Amid this onslaught, it has become clear that their enemies will take any measures necessary to have them removed from office.

Based on exclusive interviews with De Ruyter, Oberholzer and other key figures, Sabotage is a story of conspiracy and subterfuge at South Africa’s ailing power utility, uncovering the power struggles that threaten the country’s very survival.

Since the late 1980s, policy makers and regulators in a number of countries have liberalized, restructured or "deregulated" their electric power sector, typically by introducing competition at the generation and retail level. These experiments have resulted in vastly different outcomes - some highly encouraging, others utterly disastrous. However, many countries continue along the same path for a variety of reasons.
This book examines the most important competitive electricity markets around the world and provides definitive answers as to why some markets have performed admirably, while others have utterly failed, often with dire financial and cost consequences.
The lessons contained within are direct relevance to regulators, policy makers, the investment community, industry, academics and graduate students of electricity markets worldwide.
- Covers electicity market liberalization and deregulation on a worldwide scale
- Features expert contributions from key people within the electricity sector

The Economics of Electricity Markets provides a cutting-edge analysis of the critical issues involved in the design and operation of electricity markets, as well as an assessment of alternative institutional arrangements that have either been implemented or are under discussion in Europe and the US.The book illustrates how a sound market design can render electricity trading and retailing very much like that of other commodities. Social and political concerns, rather than engineering or economics, are what make electricity markets 'special'. The expert contributors address a wide set of issues that arise when competition is introduced to the electricity industry, ranging from the design of spot and real-time power markets to alternative approaches to congestion management, from competition policy in wholesale electricity markets to the benefits and costs of retail competition, and from regulatory measures to ensure generation capacity adequacy to the politicization of generation investment decisions as a way of pursuing sustainability targets. This highly informative book will appeal to academics, students and researchers in the field of advanced energy economics, and will prove essential reading for energy regulators, professionals and executives wishing to explore the theoretical foundations underpinning their day-to-day activities. Contributors: G. Cervigni, A. Commisso, A. Creti, D. Perekhodtsev, C. Poletti, P. Ranci

The UK model of incentive regulation of power grids was at one time the most advanced, and elements of it were adopted throughout the EU. This model worked well, particularly in the context of limited investment and innovation, a single and strong regulatory authority, and limited coordination between foreign grid operators. This enlightening book demonstrates how the landscape has changed markedly since 2010 and that regulation has had to work hard to catch up and evolve. As the EU enters a wave of investment and an era of new services and innovation, this has created growing tensions between national regulatory authorities in terms of coordinating technical standards and distribution systems. This is being played out against an increasingly disruptive backdrop of digitization, new market platforms and novel business models. Electricity Network Regulation in the EU adopts a truly European approach to the complex issues surrounding the topic, focusing on the grey areas and critical questions that have traditionally been difficult to answer. Incentive regulation and grids are addressed simultaneously at the theoretical and practical level, providing the reader with fundamental concepts and concrete examples. This timely book is an invaluable read for energy practitioners working in utility companies, regulators and other public bodies. It will also appeal to academics involved in the world of electricity regulation. The book utilizes language that would make it suitable for interdisciplinary students, including engineering and law scholars. Contributors include: P. Bhagwat, J.-M. Glachant, S.Y. Hadush, L. Meeus, V. Rious, N. Rossetto, T. Schittekatte

Through a variety of analytical lenses - formal modeling, econometrics and case study comparisons - Carlos RufIn fills a gap in the political economy of second-wave, or microeconomic, reforms around the world. More specifically, he does so in the context of the electricity supply industry, where such reforms have been as problematic as they have been widespread. The author shows that ideological considerations and bargaining over the distribution of economic rents accruing from certain institutional arrangements are powerful shapers of institutional change. At the same time, the legacy of the past does not appear to have a clear or systematic effect on the direction of second-wave reforms that seek to transform existing economic institutions. If distributional conflicts can be resolved, these conclusions provide grounds for optimism about the ability to create new institutions even in countries where little favorable precedent exists. Political economy and public policy scholars, specialists on business-government relations and non-market strategy and those interested in Latin America will find this comprehensive book of great interest. Practitioners involved in the design and implementation of second-wave reforms around the world will find this an essential addition to their library.

The issue of electricity reform has been on the agenda in Europe for a decade and remains a high priority for policymakers looking to the future. However, the performances of new electricity markets are still not clear and arouse significant controversy. This book focuses on the diversity of electricity reforms in Western Europe, drawing evidence from ten European Union memberstates plus Norway and Switzerland as associate members. The contributors analyse the various ways of introducing competition in the European electricity industries, and consider both the strategies of electricity companies and their behaviour in electricity marketplaces. They also offer an explanation of the differences of reforms by the institutions and the industrial structures of each country which shape the types of marketrules, industrial restructuring and public service regulations which have been adopted. As a whole, this volume will attract scholars, PhD and post-graduate students, notably those interested in energy economics, comparative institutional economics and applied industrial economics. European and non-European energy companies or regulatory authorities looking for an independent and analytical overview of European electricity markets will also find this book of great interest.

Despite the extensive body of literature on energy economics, very little economics research has been conducted that focuses specifically on dams and hydroelectric power. Brian Edwards addresses this deficiency by examining the multiple roles that dams play, as well as the role of hydroelectric power within the context of the energy industry. Brian Edwards provides an in-depth analysis of how dams are used in water management, flood control and irrigation, as well as the environmental impacts of their construction and operation. He examines the types of restrictions imposed on operators to mitigate impacts, and the resulting tradeoffs between achieving hydroelectric generation and environmental management objectives. Also covered is the role of hydroelectric power in both a regulatory framework and within the context of the energy industry deregulation that has occurred in the US and other countries. A simple dynamic model of a hydroelectric generating facility forms the basis for other models discussed. Case studies of dams operated by the United States Department of Energy are also included. Environmental economists, researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and those interested in natural resources and the energy industry will find this a unique and valuable study.

Electricity is a basic requirement for a modern economy, and transmission grids at the center of transition to a low-carbon power system. They are the principal means to integrate large shares of wind and solar power and they are essential to ensuring a secure and reliable electricity supply. Grid companies around the world are struggling to find their niche in this transition. The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is one of the principal players in this round of global competition. Central state-owned enterprise (SOEs), such as SGCC, continue to hold the 'commanding heights' of the Chinese economy. Their relationship with the Party-state is crucial to understanding the questions of whether SOEs take orders from, and do the bidding of, the Chinese Communist Party, and how they operate under the state ownership and with a wide range of operational autonomy and expectation that they are profit-maximazing corporations. This book examines the origin, development and expansion of SGCC, the world's largest utility company and the 7th largest corporation. By telling both the electricity story and the SOE story, it provides insights into the challenges facing the grids and their possible futures. It challenges the orthodox account of Chinese politics that portrays SOEs as little more than puppets, jumping to every demand of the Party-state. It shows that SGCC has been built into a modern corporation by entrepreneurial managers. By extending its operation to four continents, SGCC is now a global player, competing with its peers and also having its input in the future low-carbon electricity system. This book challenges the popular interpretation of Chinese government. Piling detail on detail, it provides a comprehensive picture of Chinese political economy that is both new and utterly convincing.

Worldwide, the electric utility industry has been changing over the last several years as deregulation and privatization have been instituted. These changes in how the industry does business are summarized, and the evolving experience of the deregulation in 15 major countries is analyzed. In addition to the analysis, theoretical models and detailed case studies are provided to illustrate the changes. Utility regulatory agency personnel, utility management staff, and research professionals will all be interested in this work.

Competition in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity is of increasing interest to policy makers as well as to buyers and sellers of power. The use of competition as a social policy tool to benefit consumers carries the necessity of preserving competition when it is threatened by mergers or other structural changes. The work explains central principles of antitrust economics and applies them to mergers in the electric power industry. This work focuses on mergers, but the economic principles explained here will be useful in analyzing many important issues flowing from growth of competition in electric power. For example, proper definition of markets and analysis of market power will be useful in decisions on whether to continue regulation.

Before the energy crisis of the 1970s, electricity provision was a non-issue the world over, but the crisis of 1973 induced policymakers worldwide to consider private and restructured electricity provision as an alternative to unified, publicly and privately owned systems. Czamanski examines arguments and experiences concerning the divestitute of state-owned enterprises in a variety of political and technological contexts. He also considers restructuring under the Thatcher government in Great Britian, the reforms drafted by Czamanski in Israel, and restructuring in the United States as well as events in Norway, the Pacific Rim, Canada, and the developing countries. In addition, he considers the advantages and disadvantages of privatizing through theoretical discussion and by exploring experiences in various countries.

This book uses electricity-sector reforms to question some of the preconceived ideas concerning the MENA region and to provide a broader analysis of related political economy issues. It presents potential further developments of MENA's electricity-sector reforms, taking into consideration the region's unique constraints and opportunities, and discusses the practical limits of reform and deregulation. Specifically, it examines the relationship between reforms and oil prices from a new perspective and presents alternatives to the Single Buyer Model. Complementing existing research on electricity-sector reforms in other emerging markets, the book provides a new analytical framework for assessing reforms that can be easily applied to other markets and sectors.

Suitable for self-study or for in-company one-to-one or group teaching, this title presents an essential resource for improving communication in English within the gas and electricity industries.

Technologies such as renewable energy alternatives including wind, solar and biomass, storage technologies and electric engines are creating a different landscape for the electricity industry. Using sources and ideas from technologies such as renewable energy alternatives, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry explores a different landscape for this industry and applies it to the electric industry supported by real industry cases. Divided into three sections, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry introduces a range of methods and tools including technology assessment, forecasting, roadmapping, research and development portfolio management and technology transfer. These tools are the applied to emerging technologies in this industry with case studies including data from various organizations including Bonneville Power Administration and Energy Trust of Oregon, from sectors including lighting and wind energy. The final section considers innovation through these technologies. A product result of a collaboration between Bonneville Power Administration and Portland State University, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry is a comprehensive collection of methods, tools, examples and pathways for future innovation in the electricity industry.

Peak Load and Capacity Pricing lays out clear pricing strategies for understanding peak load and capacity pricing structures, further cementing electricity's role as an asset class with fixed and variable costs.

Packed with case studies and practical real-world examples, Electricity Marginal Cost Pricing Principles allows regulators, engineers and energy economists to choose the pricing model that best fits their individual market.

Written by an author with 13 years of practical experience, the book begins with a clear and rigorous explanation of the theory of efficient pricing and how it impacts investor-owned, publicly-owned, and cooperatively-owned utilities using tried and true methods such as multiple-output, functional form, and multiproduct cost models. The author then moves on to include self-contained chapters on applying estimating cost models, including a cubic cost specification and policy implications while supplying actual data and examples to allow regulators, energy economists, and engineers to get "a feel" for the methods with which efficient prices are derived in today s challenging electricity market. The book is accompanied by a companion website which will allow for the testing of methods and validating results.

A guideto cost issues surrounding the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity

Clearly explains cost models which can yield the marginal cost of supplying electricity to end-users

Real-world examples that are practical, meaningful, and easy to understand

Explans the policy implications of each example

Provide suggestions to aid in the formation of the optimal market price"

The electric power sector operates under an archaic regulatory system that is ill-equipped to oversee a competitive, restructured, regionally-organized industry. This book offers the first systematic discourse on regional aspects of regulatory reform, sharing topical perspectives from leading actors and regional case studies that show how the debate plays out on the ground. It frames the policy debate, applies economic and political theoretical lenses to federalism issues, and outlines options for regulatory reform, modes of cooperation, and an analytical basis for decisions. Most important, it provides a strategic road map for the industry over the coming decade. Contributors include current and former regulators at the State and Federal levels, senior utility executives, leading advocates, government policy makers and academics, including Michael Danielson, Michehl Gent, Kenneth Gordon, Kevin Kelly, Raymond Maliszewski, Richard O'Neill, Jackie Pfannensteil, Mary Sharpe Hayes, Charles Stalon, and many others.

Consume thy rival may be the new law of corporate survival in the U.S. utilities industry. This book describes close to $70 billion of global utility mergers stemming from the anticipated deregulation of the U.S. gas and electrical utilities industries. Occurring from 1995 to 1997, these mergers are completely restructuring U.S. power utilities. Thirty-seven billion dollars of these mergers, a full 53 percent, occurred abroad. About two-thirds of the foreign mergers were U.S. takeovers, while the remaining one-third was mergers, defensive and otherwise, of U.K. firms with other U.K. firms. This may be the first time U.S. industrial restructuring has generated more investment abroad rather than in domestic markets.

Exploring the diversity of strategies and changes driving these mergers, the author concludes that although complex, the mergers can be explained by strategies traditionally used in domestic M&As. These very large U.S. utilities now consider themselves to be operating in a global industry of private, deregulated utilities, and they are determined to survive through mergers that help them cut costs, spread expenses, and increase profits.

Originally published in 1959, the author has observed at first hand the workings of public enterprise in Britain. He has coupled objectivity with an acute sense of economic perception and has produced a clear and ordered study of the workings of nationalization in industry at the time. His book does not contain an argument on whether nationalization is desirable or not. On the assumption that there is nationalization he attempts to discuss certain important problems raised by it in the fields of management, pricing, resource allocation and public control. He hopes that a discussion of this nature will contribute towards ensuring the most satisfactory results from nationalization.

Margot P. C. Weijnen, Zofia Lukszo and Geert Deconinck Abstract The infrastructures for electric power and information and telecommunication services are critical enablers for all economic activity. Both of these infrastructure systems evolved over time as networks-of-networks in an institutionally fr- mented landscape. In understanding and steering the emergent behaviour of these infrastructure systems both their physical network complexity and their social n- work complexity pose a formidable challenge. On top of the socio-technical c- plexity of the electricity infrastructure and the information and telecommunication infrastructure as such, the two infrastructure systems show unprecedented mutual interdependency. Unravelling this multi-level interdependency and identifying strategies to curb the new risks and vulnerabilities it implies for the reliability of electric power services is the goal of this book. It clearly shows that technical so- tions alone will not suffice to ensure the future reliability and security of electricity infrastructure operations. Keywords Cybersecurity * infrastructure vulnerability * infrastructure depend- cies * power systems 1. 1 Infrastructures Are Critical Infrastructures are the backbone of the economy and society. Especially the network bound infrastructures operated by public utilities and network industries provide essential services that are enabling for almost every economic and social activity. M. P. C. Weijnen (*) and Z. Lukszo Technology Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P. O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands e-mail: M. P. C. Weijnen@tudelft. nl; Z. Lukszo@tudelft. nl G. Deconinck K. U.

This is an ideal volume for professionals in academia, industry and government interested in the rapidly evolving area at the nexus between energy and climate change policy. The cutting-edge international contributions allow for a wide coverage of the topic.
Energy Diversity and Security focuses on the consideration of financial risk in the energy sector. It describes how tools borrowed from financial economic theory, in particular mean-variance portfolio theory, can provide insights on the costs and benefits of diversity, and thus inform investment decision making in conditions of uncertainty. It gives the reader an in-depth understanding of how to manage risk at a time when the world's focus is on this area. The book provides insights from leading authorities in the area of energy security. It gives readers abundant, rigorous analysis and guidance at a critical time in facing the twin challenges of energy security and climate change. The book also highlights the role of clean energy technology in moving towards future diverse and intelligent electricity systems. It will be a trusted, first point of reference for decision-makers in the field of energy policy.
The book includes a foreword by the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner. All royalties from sale of this book will be donated to charities working in the energy sector in the developing world.
- Theoretical underpinning and applied use of Portfolio theory in the energy sector
- In-depth consideration of risk
- Contributions from leading international energy economists
- Innovative methodologies for thinking about energy security and diversity

Examining the reform and restructuring of the electricity industry in China, India and Russia, this book explores the way that local conditions and institutions shape the commitment, direction and speed of public utility reform in the three countries. It questions the validity of the argument that one model for electricity reforms will work in all countries, on the grounds that the industry is the same everywhere, by examining the World Bank's involvement in economic reforms in developing and transition economies. The author asks how the template developed by the World Bank has affected the three countries and seeks to explain why changes took place, how effectively they have been proceeding, and what the consequences are for these countries. In so doing, Electricity Reform in China, India and Russia challenges both the assumption behind the new reform paradigm - that market competition is the panacea for all the ills of the electricity industry - and the oft-cited belief that a single template can work in different environments. China, India and Russia have different political and economic systems and at different development stages. Xu Yi-chong uses the experience of the three countries to illustrate the complications created by the use of a single template, a policy encouraged by the World Bank, to direct reform and the need to appreciate the different problems that each had to overcome. Academics and students who are interested in comparative politics, comparative economics, public policy and particularly the reform of public utilities will find this work of great interest, as will practitioners and those who are involved in restructuring the electricity industry worldwide.