Tribute today has to go to the Bizcommunity.com team, particularly support and production, who worked the oddest hours last week to keep ahead of the blackouts in Cape Town where our HQ is based. There were instances of staff driving around with their laptops to find out where there was power and setting alarms for the middle of the night to see if there was power to charge cellphones and computer batteries! Having to present a daily product that is so reliant on technology during such conditions is a challenge, which we coped with; however, the total cost to business in the Western Cape is staggering. It is also a sobering reminder of how reliant we are on the consistent supply of resources such as electricity and water - which millions in our own country live without daily, let's not forget... and millions more compromise with on the continent. We in South Africa have been very fortunate to have had mostly excellent services supplied to our business areas and formal residential suburbs. However, we pay for those services and, without information to the contrary, expect those services to be delivered. So surely executives of Eskom, with their multi-million rand pay packets, owe their CUSTOMERS answers and assurances that they will apply some basic scenario planning in the future to ensure they plan for such eventualities - or is it already too late? 'Power' to the people! Louise Marsland, editor@bizcommunity.com