WEDNESDAY brought a welcome announcement for all South Africans.

 

Eskom, the national electricity utility, said it was suspending the power cuts that have been afflicting the country since January.

 

The story would normally be of primarily local interest.

 

What has changed this, of course, is the decision by Fifa, world football’s governing body, to stage the 2010 World Cup in the rainbow nation.

 

This has made everything from new transport links to national crime statistics international news.

 

Clearly, any suggestion that there might be problems with the supply of a commodity as fundamental as electricity was unlikely to go down very well at Fifa’s Zurich headquarters.

 

And so it has proved.

 

There is an unmistakable note of frustration in a reply given by Fifa’s president Joseph Blatter on the subject in an interview I found on Fifa’s own website.

 

Asked what was causing him the most concern about preparations for the tournament in 2010, the Fifa boss replied: “Energy supply is causing Fifa the most concern at the moment.

 

"Electricity.

 

"If you cannot provide a suitable energy supply in this day and age then there is something wrong.”

 

So, will it turn out alright on the night?

 

Does this week’s announcement signify that the worst is behind us and that this iconic nation will be able successfully to husband its power resources to keep the lights – and, more to the point, TV sets – on all over the country when the great day arrives?

 

Or might there be further shocks in store?

 

For an informed assessment, I turned to Brian Statham, chairman of the South African National Energy Association.

 

The essence of what he had to say is as follows:

 

1. This year’s power cuts were triggered by a somewhat unusual set of circumstances

 

The lights went out, he said, for three reasons.

 

First, there was an unexpectedly high rate of power station failures.

 

Second, “We had a hell of a lot of rain”, which affected coal supplies from open-cast mines.

 

Third, it is the time of year when maintenance work is traditionally conducted (because the South African winter is when demand for electricity is at its highest).

 

The cuts have been continuing until this week in a controlled and scheduled manner in order to rebuild stocks of coal.

 

Said Statham: “We try to have a minimum of 20 days’ coal in stockpile, but because of the interruptions to mining, some of that stockpile went down to three or four days.”

 

2. Nevertheless, the supply-demand fundamentals are tighter than would ideally be the case – and will almost certainly remain so in 2010

 

As Statham explained, South Africa’s so-called “reserve margin” – the cushion by which installed capacity exceeds actual demand – is currently about 10 per cent.

 

As a rule of thumb, he said, you would normally want to see this increased to 15-20 per cent – particularly for a country such as South Africa which has no power-rich neighbours capable of helping out when demand is high.

 

He went on: “My gut feeling is that we are going to be at about 12 per cent for 2010 – but I also have a gut feeling which says that all leave [for power industry staff] will be cancelled.”

 

He acknowledged that he did not know how much demand for electricity would rise because of the World Cup.

 

3. However, there is a big opportunity to persuade consumers to use electricity more efficiently, which should help to ensure that the power network proves up to the task in 2010

 

Statham said: “South Africa has in the past been blessed with electricity that has been extremely cheap – so cheap that people have wasted it.

 

“In January, everybody went into a panic because the lights went out, but people are starting to adapt [by using insulation and energy-efficient lightbulbs and so forth and by switching the light off when they exit a room].

 

“Over the next few years, I think at residential level, people will learn to adapt.

 

“[And] if you have an attitude about energy saving at home, you bring that to work.

 

“There is a big opportunity to manage demand; I think that will make a big difference.”

 

Overall, Statham seemed confident South Africa would rise to the task, particularly as efficiency savings by consumers were among the factors that this week enabled the regime of controlled power cuts, or “load shedding”, to be suspended.

 

He also emphasised that the match stadia themselves had in any event to be equipped with independent power generation, making the humiliating prospect of a World Cup match actually being blacked out extremely remote.

 

“You have to have a double-whammy before the lights go out on the game,” he said.

 

So would South Africa be OK, all things considered?

 

“It’s going to be a very brave man who can give you an absolute guarantee there won’t be a problem,” Statham said.

 

“But anybody who is reasonably pragmatic will say that, with the innovative capability of South Africans, we are going to get through this.”

 

From Sepp Blatter on down, millions of people will be hoping he is right.   

 

David Owen is a specialist sports journalist who worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing.