Today, on World Cities Day, SERI launches a new working paper on electrification in informal settlements entitled, 'Electrification in Informal Settlements: Opportunities, Challenges and Lessons'. Each year, shack fires devastate informal settlements across South Africa, claiming many lives and destroying homes and belongings. Lack of access to safe and affordable electricity remains one of the leading causes of these fires.
This working paper examines the opportunities, challenges, and lessons of efforts to electrify informal settlements. It explains the legal and policy framework governing electricity provision, highlights challenges informal settlement households face in accessing electricity, unpacks two case studies, discusses the benefits and costs associated with electrifying informal settlements, and proposes several solutions. The report seeks to deepen understanding of and provide solutions to several of the challenges that are identified. SERI’s experience of working with the Slovo Park community informs this working paper, and draws on additional desktop research. It is based on an earlier working paper that was refined through engagements with community and technical experts.
To accompany this publication, SERI has also produced a set of factsheets that distill the key information from the working paper including important guiding principles and recommendations that should inform informal settlement electrification.
- Access the Working Paper here.
- Access the factsheets below:
- Factsheet 1: Energy Poverty in South Africa.
- Factsheet 2: Risks faced by people in informal settlements.
- Factsheet 3: Slovo Park - A community-based organisation's story.
- Factsheet 4: The case for electrification.
- Factsheet 5: Guiding principles for informal settlement electrification.
- Factsheet 6: Recommendations for informal settlement electrification.