Abstract
M.A. (Environmental Management)
The provision and supply of electricity has become one of the most far-reaching and contemporary concerns facing humanity. Heavy reliance on this energy source for the functioning of daily life has led to challenges regarding electricity security. These challenges are extremely evident in sub-Saharan Africa, where a per capita decrease in installed generating capacity has been experienced. While South Africa’s electricity supply has been relatively stable over the years (1923-2006), it has not been immune to electricity provision challenges recently (2007-2017). The country has experienced a steady decrease in electricity supply and an increase in electricity costs for a number of reasons. These aspects, coupled with other factors such as non-expansion and poor maintenance, ultimately resulted in the implementation of load shedding in the 2007/2008 and 2014/2015 Financial Years.
Eskom, the country’s national electricity supplier, has embarked on several projects to ensure a surplus of electricity in the future. However, power outages, both planned and unplanned are still a feature of the South African landscape resulting in socio-economic impacts. These outages and impacts have affected the residential sector and, as such, Eskom has encouraged the reduction of household electricity usage. Limited research has been conducted with respect to domestic electricity consumption at the provincial and regional scales. Therefore, this study filled a gap in the literature through the evaluation of household electricity saving and power outage mitigation measures utilised in Johannesburg, Gauteng.
In order to achieve the aim and objectives of this study, an extensive research design was utilised through a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire collected quantitative as well as qualitative data and was distributed electronically using the purposive snowballing technique. The data obtained demonstrated that cost was one of the largest motivating factors for electricity-based decision making in the household. It is for this reason that residential consumers mainly utilised energy efficient (EE) technologies and solutions, which allowed for minimal and efficient usage of electricity. Another significant finding of the undertaken research related to the reasons for investment in power outage mitigation measures, namely, the continuation of daily tasks, particularly work. Finally, this Johannesburg-based study found that residential...