BROKEN PROMISES

The briefing examines the gap between South Africa's policy goals for affordable energy and the reality for low-income households. It identifies two primary failures: the lack of a clear definition for "affordable energy" and the systemic failure of the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) program. The document reveals that in 2019, while national grants covered 9.8 million households for basic services, only 2 million actually received free electricity, leaving approximately 5.4 million eligible poor households without the benefit and resulting in a loss of R6 billion in 2019 alone.

• The South African government has not provided a concrete definition or price ceiling for "affordable energy," which has undermined the primary goal of the 1998 White Paper on Energy.
• Low-income households in South Africa face a disproportionate financial burden for energy, spending up to 17% of their income on energy, which limits their ability to afford other essentials like food.
• The Free Basic Electricity (FBE) program, introduced in 2003 to provide 50 kWh of free electricity per month, is severely under-implemented because municipalities fail to register eligible poor households.
• In 2019, there was a massive discrepancy between national funding and actual service delivery: funding was provided for 9.8 million households, but only 2 million received free electricity. After accounting for 2.5 million households without electricity access, approximately 5.4 million eligible poor households were denied the benefit, representing a value of R6 billion for that year.

APA

Ledger, T. (2021). BROKEN PROMISES. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CBSesothoNew.pdf

Chicago

Ledger, Tracy. BROKEN PROMISES. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2021. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CBSesothoNew.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ledger |first1=Tracy |title=BROKEN PROMISES |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=2021 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CBSesothoNew.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ledger2021broken, author = {Ledger, Tracy}, title = {{BROKEN PROMISES}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2021}, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/CBSesothoNew.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }