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Socio-economic Aspects of Energy and Climate Change in South Africa

Appreciating energy and electricity as cornerstones of socio-economic growth and development, this chapter deals with a variety of concepts and factors to demonstrate the evolution of the role of energy in the South African economy and the population’s living standards. The chapter also discusses historically the various types of transition of the energy sector since the country’s first connection to electricity. The importance of energy as a factor of production and a medium of wealth is profound in the analysis. Also, the findings show that the transitions in the South African energy sector have gone through different natures: demographics of the users, sectoral transitions, regional ones until the one the sector has been undergoing since 2018 that combines a market transition (from monopolistic towards competitive environments) with a fuel transition (from a fossil-fuel-dominated system towards a cleaner, renewable mix).