LIST OF APENDICES
Chapter 7 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS AND THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL ENERGY
POVERTY RESULTS
7 Introduction
This Chapter presents the results of the analyses. The first section deals with the descriptive statistics which include the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of low-income households. The energy choices made by low-income households for cooking, heating, and lighting and in relation to rurality and dwelling types are described and are followed by the results of the correlation matrix and multiple correspondence analysis for selecting energy poverty indicators and the relevant allocation of weights.
The result of the estimation of the multidimensional energy poverty line is highlighted and next is the multidimensional energy poverty index for low-income households in South Africa; this includes the relative contribution of the dimensions in measuring energy poverty. Sensitivity analysis to test the multidimensional energy poverty weights and the energy poverty line end the chapter.
7.1 Descriptive Statistics o f Low-income Households in South Africa
Following the definition by the South African Bureau of Market Research (2011) and Statistics South Africa (2011), low-income households in South Africa are classified as those earning R0 - R18 000 per annum or households with an income below R1 500 per month. As a developing country, the effectiveness of electrification programmes, especially in the residential sector, should be assessed by improvement in the quality of life among those that were excluded during the apartheid era, mainly the low-income groups and/or Black African households. The NIDS panel data (waves 1 to 4), with a total sample of 10 804 low-income households was used for the descriptive statistics;
these include the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of low-income households, which comprises the household head population group, gender and age.
Household size, dwelling type, geographical location, electricity access, energy choices for cooking, heating, and lighting of the low-income households were also examined.
7.1.1 Socio-economic and Demographic Characteristics of the Low-income Households
The socio-economic and demographic descriptive statistics provide a description of low- income households while energy variables highlight their energy choices. Descriptive statistics show the percentages in each group over the four waves. Table 7.1 presents the characteristics of South African low-income households with respect to their socio
economic and demographic variables between 2008 - 2014.
The table shows that most low-income households are Black African (89%). This is a not unexpected result because the incidence of poverty or energy poverty among Black African individuals was found to be the highest compared to other racial groups by Franks in 2014 and Ismail and Khembo in 2015. The Asian/Indian population group was found to have the smallest proportion of low-income households, at 0.35%.
The gender variable shows that nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) were female, also not surprising as one of the strategies for collecting data in the NIDS is a face-to-face interview with the oldest woman in the household who may well head most households.
As indicated in Table 7.1, the age variable was grouped into seven categories. The age category suggests that the largest group of respondents are in the range of 40 - 49 years old (22%), an indication of the extent of low-income in the middle-age group.
Households headed by those aged between 20 - 29 years, is 21%, which figure also shows a large representation of low-incomes in this age group. Households headed by youths of 14 - 19 years made up only 3%.
Table 7:1 Socio-economic and demographic characteristics of low-income households' in South Africa, 2008 - 2014
Percentage of Low-income Households Population Group (Respondent)
Black African 89.29
Coloured 9.55
Asian/Indian 0.35
White 0.82
Gender (Respondent)
Female 73.37
Male 26.63
Age (Respondent)
14 - 19 years 3.02
20 - 29 years 20.73
30 - 39 years 19.93
40 - 49 years 21.71
50 - 59 years 19.90
60 - 69 years 10.71
70 years and above 4.00
Dwelling Type (Household)
Modern dwelling 67.82
Traditional dwelling 19.24
Informal dwelling 12.93
Rurality
Urban 43.83
Rural 56.17
Household Size ( Number of persons)
1 - 4 72.91
5 - 10 25.95
11 - 15 1.05
16 and above 0.05
The characteristics of the dwellings in which households live could provide an indication of the well-being of household members (Statistics South Africa 2013). A modern dwelling, defined by Statistics South Africa (2013), is a structure built according to approved plans with concrete blocks and consists of a house on a separate stand, a flat or apartment, a townhouse, a flatlet or a room in a backyard. Traditional dwellings are usually huts or rondavels etc. made of clay, mud, reeds or other locally available
materials (Statistics South Africa 2013). An informal dwelling is typically built with found materials, such as corrugated iron, cardboard, plastic, etc. and not approved by a local authority as a permanent dwelling (SEA 2014). The dwelling type shows that 68% of low-income households have modern dwellings while informal dwellings are the smallest category (13%). A modern type of dwelling could influence households' energy choices, especially a preference for modern energy sources.
The term rurality indicates that low-income households can be either rural or urban dwellers but as indicated in Table 7.1, low-income households are more likely to be rural dwellers (56%) rather than urban dwellers (44%). This agrees with other studies that have found that low-income households are often rural (Hills 2012; Mainali and Silveira 2013).
Five and more persons tend to live in larger households, according to Barnes et al.
(2005) and Guta (2012). In 73% of low-income households live 1 - 4 persons. This is contrary to expectations as Rao and Reddy (2007), for example, mention that in developing countries larger households are often related to lower incomes. Only 27%
of low-income households have large households of five and above.
7.1.2 Electricity Access in Low-income Households
One dimension of energy poverty in South Africa can be described in terms of households' access to electricity (Ismail 2015; Kohler et al. 2009). The number of households connected to the national electricity grid determine access to electricity.
Low-income household access to electricity from 2008 to 2014 is presented in Table 7.2.
Table 7:2 Percentage of Low-income Households with Electricity Access, 2008 - 2014
Year
2008 2010 2012 2014
Household with Electricity (%) 67.80 68.36 76.25 82.29
Household without Electricity (%) 32.20 31.64 23.75 17.71
Total (%) 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
The percentage of low-income households with electricity in South Africa has been increasing over the years, rising from 68% in 2008 to 82% in 2014. The proportion of low-income households with electricity increase the most from 2010 to 2012 (8%) and the smallest increase occurs between 2008 to 2010 which is less than 1%. The slow increase in the number of households with electricity in 2008 to 2010 could be the result of the electricity crisis that began in 2008 which lead to load shedding throughout the country and issues of affordability because of increases in the cost of electricity.
7.1.3 Residential Electricity Price in South Africa
Energy price is one of the factors that influence household behaviour in terms of energy choice(s) (Arthur et al. 2012; Van der Kroon et al. 2013). When the price of electricity increases, households, especially low-income households, may have to turn to cheaper and typically less efficient fuels.