Household electricity access and consumption behaviour in an urban environment: The case of Gauteng in South Africa

Abstract

Being able to access modern energy forms is acknowledged as a pre-condition for achieving sustainability and improvement of quality of life. In an urban setting, wider selection of fuels is available for use, and policy makers are increasingly faced with the challenge of anticipating energy requirements of urban population, particularly as increases in affluence often translates to moving-up on the energy ladder from traditional fuels to modern energy. Using survey data, household electricity access and consumption behaviour in Gauteng province of South Africa was analysed with respect to some household socio-economic characteristics. The survey shows that household respondents are connected to electrical supply options as follows: 57.7% prepaid card; 35.5% conventional meter; 12.8% do not have an electrical supply; 7.6% solar; 1.4% do not know their electrical supply; 0.8% diesel generators and 0.5% connection to neighbours house. However, being connected with electrical supply does not imply that the households do not make use of other dangerous and risky fuel types such as kerosene and candles for cooking and lighting respectively. Factors behind the lack of use of electricity even though households have electricity supply options include among others, income and low price for other fuels relative to electricity.