Climate change, energy security and achieving universal
electricity access for all households are all
pressing issues that South Africa must address.
These objectives need not be trade-offs, however,
and achieving electricity access for the poor does
not justify the building of large coal-fired power stations
or threaten South Africa’s climate change
objectives. This paper estimates the electricity
demand from the residential sector to 2020 resulting
from universal access, and finds that electricity
for low-income households would constitute only a
small addition to total electricity demand and would
represent only a minor portion of output from the
coal-fired power station, Medupi. Furthermore,
emissions from the additional electricity consumed
by newly connected households would have a negligible
impact on South Africa’s emissions profile.