Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

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CHAPTER 9 Department of Energy Introduction Neither the international, regional nor national child rights instruments expressly guarantees the right to electricity. All of them do, however, guarantee everyone the right to a healthy environment that promotes and is not harmful to one’s health or well-being. 97 It is arguable that this right includes the right of access to free electricity, especially when read in conjunction with the obligation imposed on the South African state by the Constitution to take ‘legislative and other measures designed to protect or advance persons, or categories of persons, disadvantaged by unfair discrimination’ (section 9(2)). Based on this provision, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies argues that there should not only be no differential adverse impact on poor consumers, but that ‘positive measures [should] be taken to reduce the cost of electricity to those consumers’ (CALS, cited in Malzbender 2005). Key policies and legislation ● Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act No. 108 of 1996 ● Department of Minerals and Energy, Electricity Basic Services Support Tariff (Free Basic Electricity) Policy for the Republic of South Africa, 2003 Programmes and services provided Free basic electricity Table 9.1 Programme/service map: Department of Energy Programme/ services Description of the programmes/actual service provided Targeted beneficiaries/ qualifying criteria/how to obtain the service Delivery mechanism/ service providers Free basic electricity i All households that are connected through the national electrification programme (that are on the grid) receive free basic electricity of 50 kWh per household per month. Off-grid electricity users, that is, households using solar home systems installed through the National Electrification Programme, are Targeted beneficiaries Households living in poverty However, because of the difficulty of identifying households living in poverty, free basic electricity is provided to all households that are on the grid or off-grid and using solar home systems installed through the National Electrification Programme Local municipalities ➔ 97 Section 24(a), South African Constitution, UNCRC, Article 24(2)(c); ACRWC, Article 14(2)(h) 193
Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable children in SA ➔ subsidised up to a maximum of 80% (R48 per household) of the monthly service fee. ii The subsidy for off-grid users is paid directly to the service providers, meaning that households only have to make a cash payment of R18 per month. A household is defined by the Department as ‘a residential customer with an official point of electrical supply’. iii Notes: (i) DoME (2003) (ii) and (iii) Free basic electricity, http://www.dme.gov.za/energy/elect_fbe.stm Some key policy and service delivery gaps Households not connected to the grid Many poor households are not connected to the grid, either through electrification or approved solar home systems, meaning that they do not benefit from free basic energy supplies. 98 The 2009 General Household Survey indicates that 82.6 per cent of households are connected to an electricity supply. However, in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo province, there is still high usage of wood and paraffin as a source of energy (Stats SA 2010a). Free 50 kWh insufficient The allocation of free 50 kWh of electricity per month, as per the free basic electricity programme, is premised on the assumption that this is the amount of energy an average household consumes per month, and that it is enough to meet the needs for ‘lighting, media access and limited water heating and basic ironing (or basic cooking) for a poor household’ (DoME 2003: 9). This is contested by consumer and activist groups who claim that the average monthly household usage is much higher. As a result, the 50 kWh does not meet their needs and poor households are then forced to use firewood and paraffin when they have used up their free basic electricity (Malzbender 2005). 98 NGOs to March for Free Basic and Clean Electricity, October 2008, Sangonet pulse, http://www.ngopulse.org/pressrelease/ngos-march-free-basic-and-clean-electricity-0 194
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Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

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