Lights Out!

In Cape Town at the moment (I know, it's a hard life!) staying in the shadow of Table Mountain. Having always known that water was a precious commodity and in need of rationing, I was a little more surprised to find that electricity is also in very short supply here on the Western Cape. Despite all we have learned about rationing devices in economics ranging from the simple price mechanism to subsidies and taxes, the solution here is far simpler: in times of high demand, whole areas of the city are actually cut-off from the mains supply and plunged into darkness. Draconian as it may seem, and no-one is warned when they might be hit, is it the ultimate example of rationing a precious resource?