A Survey of Energy Related Behaviour and Perceptions in South Africa
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The Residential Sector 2013 A Survey of Energy Related Behaviour and Perceptions in South Africa The Residential Sector 2013 A survey of energy-related behaviourin South Africa and perceptions A Survey of Energy Related Behaviour and Perceptions in South Africa The Residential Sector 2013 2 Minister’s Foreword The delivery of energy services are extremely important since, perhaps more than any other facet of development, energy touches upon virtually every aspect of society. At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, world leaders placed development at the heart of the global agenda by adopting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs provide concrete, time-bound objectives for dramatically reducing extreme poverty in its many dimensions by 2015 while promoting gender equality, education, health, and environmental sustainability. Although none of the MDG refers to energy explicitly, improved energy services are necessary for meeting all these goals. For instance, cooking with coal, firewood, crop residues or dung is associated with significantly higher child mortality rates, diminishing maternal health and general disease burden from smoke. More and better energy service are needed to end poverty, hunger, educational disparity between boys and girls, the marginalization of women, major disease and health service deficits, as well as environmental degradation. Even though South Africa has been lauded by the international community as a successful example of sustained political commitment to creating incentive frameworks that have led to significant expansion of electrification to all South Africans, we cannot rest on our laurels. Since 1994 the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP) has been able to connect 5.4 million households and to date about 85% of all households in South Africa have access to electricity. From 1994 to 2011, government had successfully increased the proportions of households that have access to energy from 30% to 85%. It is now striving to realise universal access by 2025 using a combination of grid and non-grid technologies. This timeline is coherent with the National Development Plan. In striving towards universal access to energy and quality services it is imperative to conduct annual residential sector surveys, gathering information about energy related perception and behaviour in South Africa. The ultimate aim of these surveys is to provide the Department with valuable empirical evidence that will assist the Department to deliver on its mandate. These surveys contribute to understanding, monitoring, measuring and evaluating the impact and progress of the department. The execution of the actual surveys provides temporary job opportunities to the unemployed in the sampled areas and also provides training opportunities. This is done in a bid to improve people’s chances of getting employment of a similar nature in future. The outcome and results of this survey, together with the recommendations, are cited in detail in this report. Mr. Dikobe Ben Martins, MP Minister of Energy i ii Deputy Minister’s Foreword As a developing country the effectiveness of our programmes should not be assessed on the benefits to the most prosperous of South Africans but should be measured by the improvement of the quality of life among those most vulnerable. While there has been substantial progress in servicing high income households, a significant proportion of low income households still do not have access to electricity. In addition, on average, South African households spend 14% of their total monthly household income on energy needs which is higher than the international benchmark of 10% for energy poverty. Furthermore, results show that close to half of all South African households is energy poor. Almost three quarters (72%) of households in the poorest quintile are energy poor. Even high income households are suffering under the burden of higher electricity prices with 18% of households among the richest quintile being energy poor. Poorer households in South Africa are carrying an enormous energy burden. Remarkable strides have been accomplished by the Department in cushioning the poor against high energy costs. Policies such as the Free Basic Electricity (FBE), Free Basic Alternative Energy (FBAE) and Inclined Block Tariff (IBT) have been developed and offer welcome relief to ensure that these households do not get trapped even deeper into poverty and vulnerability. Currently, the FBE policy allows electrified households 50kWh of electricity free of charge. Non-electrified households benefit from the FBAE. In April 2010 the IBT was also introduced, implying that lower-consuming customers benefit from a lower tariff rate. All of these policies are designed to assist poor households. Going forward, as guided by this study, the Department will examine an official definition of energy poverty for the country. This will be used as a baseline to monitor and track energy poverty levels in South Africa. Energy price reviews are continuously being examined to ensure that households do not get further entrapped in energy poverty. As a matter of urgency, residential energy pricing models and tariff structures will be reviewed. We hope that this report will help the Department to further assess and assist households with the provision of energy and will also help achieve an energy-literate South Africa, who would make well-reasoned decisions about energy options and who would use the national resources more optimally. The outcome and results of this survey, together with the recommendations, are cited in detail in this report. Ms. Barbara Thompson, MP Deputy Minister of Energy iii Contents Acknowledgements xi Executive Summary 1 1. Overview 7 1.1. Progress on Electricity Provision 7 1.2. Satisfaction with Electricity Provision 9 1.3. Pricing of Electricity 10 1.4. Assisting the Poor with Electricity Provision 12 1.5. Future Energy Needs 12 1.6. Energy Saving 16 2. Introduction 14 2.1. Primary Study Objectives 15 2.2. Structure of the Report 15 3. Research Methodology 17 3.1. The Research Universe 17 3.2. The Sample Design 17 3.3. Navigation to the Selected Areas 18 3.4. Data Collection Protocol 18 3.5. Introduction of the Project to the Communities 19 3.6. Selecting a Household and Individual 19 3.7. The Questionnaire 19 3.8. Training 20 3.9. Quality Control 20 3.10. Data Capturing and Cleaning 20 3.11. Data Weighting 21 4. Access to Energy 23 5. Household Energy Consumption and Poverty 25 5.1. Household Energy Sources 25 5.1.1. Living Standard Differences 28 5.1.2. Geographic Differences 29 5.2. Main Uses of Energy Sources 31 5.2.1. Main Energy Source for Lighting 31 5.2.2. Main Energy Source for Cooking 33 5.2.3. Main Energy Source for Heating Spaces and Keeping Warm 35 5.2.4. Main Energy Source for Operating Appliances 38 5.3. A Closer Examination of Multiple Energy Use 44 5.3.1. Lighting 44 5.3.2. Cooking 47 5.3.3. Heating Spaces and Keeping Warm 50 5.3.4. Heating Water for Bathing 53 5.3.5. Heating Water for Other Purposes 58 5.4. Energy Expenditure and Energy Poverty 61 5.4.1. Expenditure-Based Approach 62 5.4.2. Subjective Approach 66 5.4.3 Thermal InefficiencyApproach 72 6. Satisfaction, Quality and Pricing of Electricity 79 6.1. Satisfaction with the Provision of Electricity in the Neighbourhood 79 6.2. Quality of Electricity 82 6.3. Pricing of Electricity 86 6.4. Strategies Employed by Households to Cope with Increasing Electricity Prices 89 7. Energy Saving 93 8. Support for different energy related activities 99 9. Policy preferences 101 9.1. Government Priorities in Supplying Electricity to the People 101 9.2. Future Sources of Electricity Supply 103 9.3. Government Policies 105 10. Conclusion and Recommendations 107 11. References 110 iv List of Tables Table 1: Imputed Average Monthly Income for Each Living Standard Measure (LSM) Category viii Table 2: Proportion of Population Using Solid Fuel as Primary Energy: Cooking 8 Table 3: Proportion of Population Using Solid Fuel as Primary: Heating 9 Table 4: Average % Electricity Price Increase 2010-2013. 12 Table 5: Current Generation Capacity, New Electricity Generation Capacity and Envisaged Total by 2030 13 Table 6: Sample Realisation 21 Table 7: Sample Weighted to the Adult Population (16 Years and Older) and Households in South Africa 21 Table 8: Access to Electricity by Select Socio-Demographic Attributes (Percentage) 24 Table 9: Main Energy Source Used for Lighting, by Socioeconomic Characteristics (Cell Percent, Row Percent) 29 Table 10: Households Reporting Use of Energy Source, by Geographic Location and Province (Cell Percent, 30 Multiple Response Table) Table 11: Main Energy Source Used for Lighting, by Socioeconomic Characteristics (Cell Percent, Row Percent) 32 Table 12: Main Energy Source Used for Cooking, by Electrification Status (Cell Percent, Multiple Response Table) 33 Table 13: Main Energy Source Used for Cooking, by Socioeconomic Characteristics (Cell Percent, Multiple 34 Response Table) Table 14: Main Energy Source Used for Heating Rooms and Keeping Warm, by Electrification Status, Living 37 Standard and Location (Row Percent) Table 15: Main Energy Source Used for Operating a Radio/Hi-Fi , by Socioeconomic Characteristics (Row Percent) 39 Table 16: Main Energy Source Used for Operating a Television, by Socioeconomic Characteristics (Row Percent) 40 Table 17: Main Energy Source Used for Operating Refrigerators, by Socioeconomic Characteristics (Row Percent) 41 Table 18: Main Energy Source Used for Operating