Electricity not used for heating – SAIRR
Even though most homes in South Africa have electricity, over 50% of households do not use it for heating, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) said on Tuesday.
"Of the 14.8-million households in South Africa, some 12.4-million (84%) use electricity for lighting, 10.7-million (73%) use it for cooking, and 6.5-million (44%) use it for heating their homes," the SAIRR said.
It said it reached its SA Survey findings using data obtained from Statistics South Africa.
"Of the 16% of households without electricity for lighting, 10% used candles, while the remaining six percent relied on paraffin and other unspecified resources," SAIRR said.
It said 27% of households did not use electricity for cooking. Instead, two percent used gas, seven percent paraffin, 13% wood, 1% coal and 4% other sources.
The survey found that 56% of households did not use electricity for heating. Paraffin and wood were used by 28%, gas by 2% and other means by 24%.
The SAIRR said lights consumed far less electricity than household appliances used for cooking and heating.
It said electricity prices had risen above the inflation rate in eight of the past ten years.
"If this trend continues, it can be expected that the average household will increasingly switch from electricity to other sources of energy for heating and cooking," said SAIRR researcher Kerwin Lebone.
"Energy sources such as candles and paraffin are also the main contributors to shack-settlement fires, that cause untold damage in terms of loss of life and property," Lebone said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation