With the current electricity supply problems gripping the country, some comfort can be drawn from recent financial data that indicates intensive investment in infrastructure by players in the electricity, gas and water supply industry.

The recently published Quarterly financial statistics report, which provides a range of financial statistics on industries in the South African economy, shows that capital expenditure in the electricity, gas and water supply industry rose by 91,8% from R13,0 billion in the second quarter of 2014 (April-June) to R24,3 billion in the third quarter of 2014 (July-September). Capital expenditure provides an indication of an industry’s investment in long-term physical assets, such as plant, machinery and equipment. A rise in capital spending indicates an intention to increase the scope of operations in the future.

The transport, storage and communication industry recorded the second largest increase in capital expenditure (+41,6%), followed by community, social and personal services (excluding government institutions) (+23,1%), real estate and other business services (excluding financial intermediation and insurance) (+8,5%) and mining and quarrying (+2,9%). Decreases were recorded for construction (-18,6%), trade (-6,7%) and manufacturing ( -3,5%).

R108 billion was recorded as capital expenditure by all industries in the economy during the third quarter. The transport and communication industry contributed the highest amount (R33,5 billion or 31%), followed by the R24,3 billion recorded in the electricity, gas and water supply industry, contributing 23% to the total.

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