Rather ironic that the State Owned Enterprise called Eskom that supplies electricity to South Africa has revealed plans that it intends to start mining Bitcoin. The irony is they do not have enough regular power to supply the country let alone side tracking into establishing a Bitcoin farm.
Here is an example from 2018 which gives an idea as yes hash rates have changed along with electricity prices which have risen by 340% since then. Bitcoin at $10k is now $100k but Eskom could use power in off peak periods to mine so it would still be far cheaper by as much as 70% cheaper than what the public pay. I will try and find the latest data on the other article which is now hidden behind a pay wall.
They obviously saw an article published in March this year by an ex Eskom engineer who stated that if Eskom had started mining Bitcoin in 2020 the SOE would be debt free and not reliant on hand outs. I just find it odd now this idea is being thrown around and the penny has dropped how much they have missed out on and how much more they could have stolen.
They are just greedy and are looking at any way possible of making money and they know this would be 100% profit as they are the supplier so it is free for them to use and the public will pay for this in an around about way. You would think that generating power should be where the focus lies and noy in their back room mining operation. AI and data centers were also mentioned but again you need electricity for those to operate and these clowns are not thinking logically. They are seeing what profits could be generated and quite seriously are like 10 years behind everyone else.
The electricity and energy minister, yes we have one of those these days has been threatening the collapse of the entire grid due to municipal debts. The debt owed by these municipalities is well over R100 billion and he mentioned without that money there would be little maintenance taking place which could force the grid to shut down.
The madness with this statement is the ANC control nearly 50% of the municipalities and have another 22% with their coalition partner being the DA party. Over 70% so it is their own party members who are at fault for not collecting the revenue owed.
Earlier in the year the National Energy Regulator declined Eskom's proposed price increases as oddly enough worked out to roughly what was owed in debt. The regulator refused the larger than normal increases on the grounds that it was unfair for the payers to pay extra for those that were not paying. The regulator called it a R50 billion punishment for those who paid for electricity. This is how Africa works and why it is a basket case always looking for hand outs. Instead of fixing the problem they will find an alternative method to screw everyone else.
I do not understand unpaid bills because as a customer if I do not pay on time you are cut off which they like to do because you pay a reconnection fee which boosts their revenue. There is no grace periods so in the paying areas those funds should have been passed on to the SOE or maybe not.
The SOE cannot function as a normal business even without competition because that would be deemed illegal in this country. They cannot collect the revenue yet think mining Bitcoin is a good idea and this is not about SOE revenue as how many Bitcoin will be stolen through corruption. Any way too make a buck for themselves is how they are all thinking with no logic.
I know some call center workers driving top of the range cars who cannot even pay for the monthly insurance yet paid cash for the vehicle. This vehicle I know about was R2.8 million which is roughly $150K. This is why money is not being handed over as it is being spent illegally via various corrupt schemes by those working for the electricity service providers.