City Power says people are stealing electricity by bypassing smart meters. (Picture: Moritz R | Unsplash) Joburg’s power utility, City Power, has paused converting postpaid to prepaid meters as it admits to billing issues, stating it needs to audit its customer database to identify customers who are getting free power. In a statement issued by…
Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 86% of the global electricity access gap in 2024, with 563 million people still living without power, according to the Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2026. The report, published by the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the World Bank, said 655 million people worldwide lacked electricity…
At a time when energy security and affordability have risen to the top of the development agenda, 655 million people globally still lack access to electricity, and two billion use polluting fuels and technologies for cooking putting their health and well-being at risk. Sub-Saharan Africa bears a disproportionate share of these gaps, with over 560…
Only about 57% of the people in Africa have access to electricity, the vast majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa. To meet the United Nations goal of everyone having access to affordable electricity by 2030, African countries will need to rapidly expand electricity generation. However, generating more electricity will have an effect on available water…
Sandton, the economic hub of Johannesburg – and South Africa South Africa cannot afford for Johannesburg to fail, and the city’s electricity supply is now genuinely at risk. The R5.3-billion debt that the city owes to Eskom is not being resolved in a sustainable way, and the consequences became more concrete last week. Eskom granted…
STORY HIGHLIGHTS Malawi used to have one of the lowest electrification rates in the world, at just 11% in 2019. Thanks to the World Bank-backed Malawi Electricity Access Project (MEAP) and to Mission 300, that rate now stands at 25.9%, and should reach 70% by 2030. Electricity is bringing visible change to local economies, inspiring…
Botswana has not cut off electricity supply or closed borders amid anti-migrant action in South Africa IN SHORT: As anti-migrant demonstrations continue to shake South Africa in May 2026, claims about neighbouring Botswana taking action are circulating online. But there is no evidence the country has closed borders or cut off electricity supply to South…
Low-emissions energy sources met all new global electricity demand for the first time last year, leaving no room for fossil fuels to grow, the energy think tank Ember has found. Solar power led the charge, meeting three-quarters of the 849 TWh in new demand. Wind power met almost all the rest. Recommended Stories list of…
The World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, and The Rockefeller Foundation launched a new Mission 300 Private Sector Council to mobilize the billions in private investment needed to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030 while unlocking job creation across the continent. Fourteen leaders from diverse sectors will help drive strategies to crowd…
The launch of South Africa’s wholesale electricity market has been pushed back from 1 April to the third quarter of 2026, the National Transmission Company South Africa (NTCSA) said on Thursday. The NTCSA said “additional work” is required to ensure that all market, operational and regulatory requirements are in place, but in a statement on…
