Free Basic Electricity
Free Basic Electricity
The South African government announced its policy to provide free basic services to the poor in 2000 – the main areas of focus being free basic water, sanitation and energy.
With regards to energy, government has focused mostly on electricity supply and in 2003 released the Free Basic Electricity Policy.
The rationale of the Free Basic Electricity (FBE) Policy was to provide “electricity to all” through the provision of a ‘limited’ amount of free electricity to poor households. Subsequently, government decided on an amount of 50kWh per household per month.