Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has stated that it is financially challenging to connect remote areas to the electricity grid.
Ramokgopa was speaking at the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRCs) national inquiry on the impact of load reduction on Tuesday.
He said the department received a R4-billion budget to electrify the country. And if this were to be used in building infrastructure to supply electricity to off-grid areas, then it would be insufficient.
New grant for electrification programme
“We want to reformulate a grant called the integrated national electrification programme. And this is the grant that facilitates the pace and scale of universal access.
“So, as I speak to you now, there’s about 1.6 million households that are not connected to the grid. Outside the conversation about affordability levels, there are 1.6 households that are without access. To them, when you talk load shedding or load reduction, it’s meaningless,” said Ramokgopa.
He said off-grid areas will be connected to the microgrid solar-energy. This is a project that has started in Madibo and Mabvete villages.
He explained that the aim has been to eliminate any form of energy inequality and poverty in South Africa.
Progress made since 1994
Ramokgopa emphasised that only 36% households were connected to the grid in 1994. Of this, over 96% were usually whites. And that it was proclaimed that democracy would bring universal access.
Between 1994 and 1999, at least 2.5 million households were connected through the national electrifying programme. This number increased to 7.5 million households connected to the grid.
Universal access
“We have not achieved conditions of universal access. And electricity is expensive for everyone. But in particular the low-income households, because of the disproportionate nature of the tariff increase. Just to give you a sense, tariff increases have amounted to over 600% in the past 14 years.
“You might not be loadshed, you might not be experiencing load reduction. I challenge you to go to the suburbs and you’ll see they are struggling to purchase units that can help them have uninterrupted electricity for 30 days,” said Ramokgopa.
