Now Eskom has come up with another suggestion to tinker with the South African working day.

Lamenting the “staggering” demand for electricity at peak periods in the early evening, chief executive Brian Dames told a business executives’ meeting in Pretoria of a proposal to alter that pattern.

“We think as a country we should consider changing our working hours. We may offer companies special fees and rates to use electricity from about 10 at night to 4 o’clock in the morning”, he said.

While not many people would like to work on such a graveyard shift, the general idea of changing working hours certainly deserves some consideration.

 There could be other benefits in addition to reducing the peak electricity demand which  often seems to threaten the national grid.

For example, more flexible office hours could allow South Africans to get more done in their “off-time” without having to take leave.