Alleviating urban energy poverty in the informal sector: The role for local government

Abstract

The depth and severity of poverty and inequality persists in South Africa, despite progressive pro-poor policies. Strong evidence also points to the unbridled growth in informality and remaining as a long-term feature of our landscape. Energy poverty is most severely experienced by those living in this sector. Against this backdrop, this paper sets out to explore through the analysis of urban energy poverty in informal settlements the challenges of developmental local government in its approaches to energy service delivery to this sector. It concludes that these developmental challenges require transformation at multiple levels of government in order to truly fulfil the constitutional objectives of poverty alleviation and to promote development and growth in South Africa. At the local level responsive solutions and capacity to undertake this is required, while at the macro-level, strengthened leadership and enhanced intergovernmental coordination is required to change the status quo.