A Mixed-Method and Multidimensional Analysis of South Africa's Load-Shedding Impacts on Household Wellbeing

Since 2007, sporadic blackouts have rocked South Africa, disrupting lives and routines as the country seeks to transfer to green energy and cope with climate change with aging infrastructure (Aidoo & Briggs, 2019).

A singular source provides 90% of South African electricity, with power cuts occurring in waves through 2007-2008, 2014-2015, and 2020-2022 (Aidoo & Briggs, 2019).

Having insufficient electricity forces low-income residents back to traditional energy methods such as wood burning, which is a known pollutant and health hazard (Bede-Ojimadu & Orisakwe, 2020).

Understanding how this chronic instability impacts household wellbeing in South Africa offers insight into how low- and middle-income countries in Africa can reorient to meet the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations, with particular focus to Goal 7 (clean energy access country-wide) and Goal 10 (reduced inequalities).

This study will use a mixed-methods approach with a convergent design to examine how secondary data on social and economic of load-shedding impacts relates to primary data from participant interviews on the same topics. Such findings also hold implications for the ESRC goals, which emphasise investment equitable green infrastructure.

Lastly, a wider global applicability is forecasted given predictions of climate-driven electrical strain and shortages (Maheshwari et al., 2019).