South Africa: #lge2026 Factsheet - What the Data Tells Us About Electricity Access in South Africa

What the report says

Africa Check published a factsheet on 14 October 2026 examining electricity access in South Africa ahead of the 4 November local government elections. The piece focuses on what recent official data says about household connections to mains electricity, the persistence of outages, and how electricity issues are shaping public debate around service delivery.

Citing Statistics South Africa’s 2025 General Household Survey, the report says 90.6% of households were connected to mains electricity, up from 76.7% in 2002. Stats SA noted that the measure can include some households receiving power through neighbours or landlords, including possible informal connections, because the survey does not verify the legitimacy of every source.

The factsheet also shows that electricity access remains uneven by province and settlement type. It says most households without mains electricity were in urban areas, and Gauteng accounted for the largest share of those households. The Western Cape recorded the highest connection rate, while Gauteng had the lowest. On interruptions, the share of households reporting power cuts fell sharply between 2023 and 2025, but some areas still experienced frequent outages, with daily interruptions most common in Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

Africa Check said the topic is vulnerable to misinformation during the election period, including false claims about outages, prepaid electricity and utility rewards. The report adds broader context that South Africa’s electricity problems are no longer only about national generation, but also ageing local infrastructure and the cost of restoring supply after faults.