This article analyses the ideological importance of the notion of “race” in the electricity sector in Tanzania by examining the antics of two private thermal power plants – Independent Power Tanzania Limited (IPTL)/Pan African (PAP) and Richmond Development Corporation. Initially contracted to provide “emergency power”, the two companies became long-term suppliers for electricity generation in Tanzania. Both have also been the backdrop for collaboration between Asian financers and African political figures seeking to make enormous profits, to the great dismay of Euro-American donors. The subsequent scandals and political rhetoric underscore how post-socialist liberalization has revitalized debates over race, thus creating complex new lines of socio-political backlash and an ambiguous mix of official and de facto privatizations.