A study has been conducted by the Citizens United for Renewable Energies and Sustainability (CURES) revealing that about 2.5 million households in South Africa do not have access to electricity. The Integrated National Electrification Program has raised the level of electrification from 36% in 1993 to 80% in 2007.
"Over four million households do not cook with electricity and two million households rely on candles for lighting," according to the study. It also said that while this increase was impressive, it failed to address the rural poor that do not have access to the grid.
"Rural electrification rates are still between 50 and 60% leaving well over two million households without access to the grid,” the study added. "This is in a country that has over 36,000 MW of installed power generation capacity, its own nuclear power plant and one of the largest electricity utilities in the world."
Some 70% of rural households rely on wood fuel and paraffin even though some of them have electricity, the study shows.
Annie Sugrue, coordinator for CURES Southern Africa, recommends renewable energy as a viable alternative for rural areas. "Renewable energy provides an excellent opportunity to provide modern energy services to those lacking it, even in far flung rural areas," she said.
She added that renewable energy could be delivered in a decentralized way, taking advantage of the solar and biomass potential in South Africa.
"Renewable energy production furthermore has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of which do not require the same skills level of other energy sources like nuclear energy," said Sugrue.
The study also acknowledges a project funded by Eskom and government where compact fluorescent lamps were distributed free of charge in exchange for incandescent light bulbs among urban households.