I'm sure there are going to be all sorts of grand promises over the next few months about power prices. But one simple fact remains: our electricity tariff system is creaking because we just can't afford it anymore. Something's about to crack, big time.

I'm sure there are going to be all sorts of grand promises over the next few months about power prices. But one simple fact remains: our electricity tariff system is creaking because we just can't afford it anymore. Something's about to crack, big time.

When I lie in bed during one of those Gauteng thunderstorms, I can often hear creaking in the ceiling. You know the scene: the lightning is flashing, the buckets are filling and the cats and dogs are raining.

In those moments my wife almost always believes the entire roof has been blown off and we are about to die.

For some reason, my usual reply - a grunt - is not considered acceptable.

But I can hear something else creaking - it's one of our systems, which I think is about to crack, big time.

I'm sure you've noticed how our electricity tariff system, literally all of it, just doesn't work. There is a the hollow ritual in which the regulator, Nersa, holds public hearings and makes a decision, before Eskom goes to court, beats Nersa and gets what it really needs to keep things going.

Of course, Nersa has messed it up so much that...