The electricity crisis has been casting a confidence-sapping shadow over the South African economy for nearly 15 years. The chickens of Eskom debt, corruption and inefficiency, policy mixed signals, regulatory bottlenecks and procurement delays have been roosting for some time and have been joined more recently by acts of criminal sabotage. As a result, load-shedding has intensified and is poised to become far worse unless urgent and decisive action is taken to inject new renewable energy and storage capacity.