At all levels of South African society, people have poor understanding of best practices for energy use and options available, which contributes to unsustainable conditions and lack of community development. The document discusses strategies to improve dissemination of household energy information, such as providing monthly usage reports comparing individual usage to peers, painting average daily usage on streets, and distributing supplementary booklets and other materials with comprehensive but moderate information on efficient energy use.

1. SLPeck
At all levels of South
African energy
consumers, people are
poorly informed about
good practices and
options for energy use.
Lack of energy information contributes to
unsustainable conditions and community
underdevelopment (Visagie 2002).
Figure 2: Electricity Market
Share in SA
Figure 3: CT Electricity
Market Share
SOUTH
AFRICA
Figure 1: SA’s relative Power Consumption
Source: data.worldbank.com
Visagie, E. 2002. A proposed methodology for gathering and dissemination of
household energy information in Energy and Development Research Centre, CT.
Source: Statistics SA
Source: CT Energy Use Report 2011

2. Figure 4: A Decision Map with Bottlenecks Identified
No ‘energy efficient’
benchmark
Recognising the
importance of
energy
efficiency and
electrical usage
reduction in SA
Technical
Jargon
Understanding
the role which ‘I’
play in
increasing
energy
efficiency in SA
and analysing
‘my’ energy
usage
Reviewing
actions which ‘I’
can partake in
to reduce my
electricity usage
and increase my
electrical
efficiency
Selecting an
appropriate
‘electrical
efficiency and
reduction plan’
i.e. Prepaid
Metre, Solar
Geyser etc
Unaware of
usage ‘status’
Too Much
Information
Combining info &
budget constraints
Monitoring
electrical
efficiency and
reduction plan
effects on
electricity usage
and costs
Assess existing
plan and
Reallocate
electrical or
make changes
to my current
plan where
necessary
Heuristics: Social Proof – when an
individual looks to the behaviour of
their peers to inform their own
decision-making and their
tendency to conform to the same
behaviour that their peers are
engaged in.
Source: Practitioners Guide to Nudging

3. Figure 5: Monthly Social Comparison Usage Report
Figure 7: Supplementary Booklet &
Comprehensive Information
Figure 6: Average Daily Usage Street Painting
Figure 8: Inclusive Moderate Information