South Africa may suffer from frequent power outages through Eskom’s grid-securing strategy of load-shedding but is not on the list of most affected power-cut countries in the world, a UK outfit that monitors business electricity consumption has found.
According to the latest research by Utility Bidder, this dubious honour belongs to Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The Pacific Island “experiences more business-related power outages than any other country,” Utility Bidder has found.
“As of 2023, less than a quarter of residents in PNG have access to electricity. The minority of people who have access to electricity here face regular issues, evidenced by 503 power outages in this country every year.”
Another country infamous for power outages is Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula nation from where Houthi rebels have launched attacks on maritime vessels sailing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Apart from paralysing seatrade through the Suez Canal because of militia action opposing Israel for its war on Gaza, Yemen’s business sector is tripped up by as many as 466 power outages per year.
“It is no secret that this country has recently struggled to cope with its electricity demands. Over the last year, some reports have claimed that Yemen’s capital, Aden, has experienced power outages which have lasted almost a day,” Utility Bidder says.
But where do African countries feature in all of this?
Topping the list of the continent’s 10-most power-cut countries is Nigeria, with 394 outages annually, followed by the Central African Republic (CAR), Benin, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Burundi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burkina Faso.
“Firms in Nigeria experience almost 33 power outages a month, equating to around 394 yearly – the third highest of any country on our list,” Utility Bidder says.
“Widespread blackouts have become common in Nigeria as their national electricity grid supply is unreliable.”
Utility Bidder also found that power cuts in the CAR cost firms the most money, “resulting in a loss of more than 25% in annual sales.
Looking globally, it says that “only 0.7% of sale value is lost due to power cuts for businesses in European countries, compared with 7.8% in Africa, 4.0% in Asia, and 2.2% in South America.”
In separate research, the World Bank has found that the following countries have the most business-affecting power cuts per month: Pakistan (75.20), Bangladesh (64.50), PNG (41.90), Iraq (40.90), Yemen (38.80), Nigeria (32.80) and the CAR (29.00).
