An analysis of the effect of the intermittent supply of electricity to consumers in the North West Province, South Africa

Abstract

Electricity is one of the contributions that has impacted the lives of everyone in the country. Electricity is an essential part of modern technology; without it, most of the items we use every day would not function and would never have been invented. In addition, in South Africa, there has been an increase in economic activities, which has led to increased energy demand. Consequently, the inconsistency of electricity supply becomes a challenge to consumers and the country. In this study, we researched the effect of intermittent electricity supply on consumers in the North West province in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to investigate and identify factors affecting intermittent electricity supply to consumers. The research approached a quantitative method to examine the impact of the unavailability of electricity on the residents of the Brits’ and Maboloka geographical areas in the North West province that were conveniently selected. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data. There were also open-ended questions to gather the opinions of the residents of the Brits’ geographical area on how they source alternative methods of electricity supply during the absence thereof. Quantitative data were analysed using the SPSS software version 28 for the closed-ended questions. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The results indicated that the inconsistency in electricity supply has a negative impact on consumers. It negatively affects various factors, which include the economic growth of the country, socioeconomic, and development of the country. The results also revealed a few alternative methods of survival used by the respondents during the absence of electricity: generators, inverters, gas, coal and paraffin. The study concluded that renewable energy and proper infrastructure maintenance will assist in reducing the intermittent supply of electricity.