经济学人2019.4.20/A glimmer of light/part2

In the past two decades Eskom has symbolised South Africa’s failings, rather than its successes. In the 2000s the government of Thabo Mbeki delayed building new plants, mostly because of overcapacity. By 2008, when this capacity was used up, Eskom started load-shedding. Two huge coal-fired power stations were meant to fill the gap, adding 4,800MW of power to the grid. But construction is running years late and about three times over budget, says Chris Yelland, an independent analyst.

在过去的20年里，埃斯科姆公司象征着南非的失败，而不是成功。2000年，塔博•姆贝基的政府推迟了新工厂的建设，主要原因是产能过剩。到2008年，当这个容量用完时，埃斯科姆公司开始减少负载。为了填补这一缺口，两座大型燃煤发电站将向电网新增4800兆瓦的电力。但独立分析师克里斯•耶兰(Chris Yelland)表示，建设工作拖延了数年，超出预算约三倍。

One reason is that some of Eskom’s bosses have spent more time stealing than managing. Cronies of Mr Zuma and his patrons, the Gupta brothers, are alleged to have siphoned off tens of billions of rand in inflated or irregular contracts. The utility sells less electricity than it did in 2007 but spends three times as much on employees and five times as much on coal (though inflation accounts for some of this).

原因之一是，埃斯科姆公司的一些老板花在“偷吃”上的时间比花在管理上的时间还要多。祖玛先生的密友和他的庇护人古普塔兄弟(Gupta brothers) 被控通过夸大或不正规的合同侵吞了数百亿兰特。与2007年相比，这家公司的电力销售减少了，但在员工身上的花费是现在的三倍，在煤炭上的花费是现在的五倍(尽管通胀是其中的一部分原因)。

词汇

Crony/密友；好朋友

Patrons/赞助人；庇护人

siphon off/吮吸

Inflation/膨胀；通货膨胀；夸张；自命不凡

Eskom’s structure makes matters worse. The utility is “vertically integrated”, meaning that it has a critical role in the three parts of electricity supply: generation (power plants), transmission (the national grid) and distribution (the final power lines). Most rich countries have ditched this monolithic model, with good reason. It blocks competition, reduces transparency and deflects accountability.

埃斯科姆公司的体系让事情变得更糟。该公司是“垂直一体化”的，这意味着它在电力供应的三个部分中发挥着关键作用:发电(发电厂)、输电(国家电网)和配电(最终的电力线路)。大多数富裕国家都有充分的理由抛弃了这种单一的模式。它有碍竞争，降低透明度，偏离责任制。

词汇

Transparency/透明，透明度

On February 7th Mr Ramaphosa said that Eskom would be broken up. It was the seventh time that a president has used his State of the Nation Address to make such a pledge. But this time may be different because there is a clear alternative to the coal-dominated monolith—a market-based model that is open to renewable energy.

2月7日，拉马福萨先生说，埃斯科姆公司将被瓜分。这是美国总统第七次在国情咨文中做出这样的承诺。但这一次可能有所不同，因为在原有的煤炭一支独大的能源市场下有了明确的替代方案——一个基于面向可再生能源的新的市场。

词汇

State of the Nation Address/国情咨文

Pledge/保证，誓言

Monolith/整块石料；庞然大物