On 08/09/15 16:08, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
Naturally enough, businesses are walking away from investment where
viability, let alone profitability, is at the whim of a government
whose policies are based on ideology and knee jerk political
advantage.

Of course. They are waiting around for the biggest handout they can
winkle out of whatever government. As usual. Why would they risk any
of their money when they will be given it anyway?

Unreal. They wont risk money because =- as Drax discovered - one moment
they invest 4billion into woodburners and the next the government says
'but that wont qualify for the subsidy we promised you'

Well quite. They want a subsidy. Hardly market forces.

Eon EDf and the like look on and say 'sod that for a game of soldiers,
lets build power stations somewhere else where the government stay out
of the market

Wot no subsidy?


Its all about controlling a non free market for political and social
purposes. As usual it results in a total ****up.

And the free market works oh so well in S Africa...

Well of course it is NOT a free market - it is a nationalised energy
supply company. Ruin by that bastion of socialism... the ANC...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskom


"Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in
1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) by the government of
South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act (1922). It was founded by a
parliamentary act, namely the Electricity Act of 1922, which allowed the
Electricity Control Board to appoint Hendrik Johannes van der Bijl as
the Chairman of the Board.[5] The company was also known by its
Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie (EVKOM). The two
acronyms were combined in 1986 and the company is now known as Eskom.
Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool.

The utility is the largest producer of electricity in Africa,[citation
needed] is among the top seven utilities in the world in terms of
generation capacity and among the top nine in terms of sales.

Eskom operates a number of notable power stations, including Kendal
Power Station, and Koeberg nuclear power station in the Cape Province,
the only nuclear power plant in Africa. The company is divided into
Generation, Transmission and Distribution divisions and together Eskom
generates approximately 95% of electricity used in South Africa.

*Due to the South African governments attempted privatisation of Eskom
in the late 1990s, Eskom's requests for budget to build new stations
were denied. President Thabo Mbeki said in December 2007 that this was
an error, and it is now adversely affecting the South African economy.

On December 11, 2014 it was announced that President Jacob Zuma had
assigned Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to oversee the turnaround of
three state owned companies namely Eskom, the South African Airways, and
the South African Post Office€�, all of which were in dire straits.[25]

On January 15, 2015 Eskom's then CEO Tshediso Matona admitted that
Eskom's policy to "Keep the Lights on" meant that power station
maintenance was neglected for years, and that South Africans will have
to get used to electricity blackouts for the next four to five years*"

So once again we have the lefty brain making stuff up out of thin air to
satisfy his prejudices, when in fact it actually totally contradicts his
position.


--
New Socialism consists essentially in being seen to have your heart in
the right place whilst your head is in the clouds and your hand is in
someone else's pocket.