Electricity Use Behaviour in a High-Income Neighbourhood in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Worldwide, households’ consumption of electricity contributes to a substantial proportion of total national energy demand. Thus, the residential sector is a major entity in efforts to define and achieve global sustainability goals. Understanding electricity use behaviour and factors underlying behaviour is critical for designing behaviour change interventions, particularly in contexts characterised by fast-growing economies, burgeoning number of high-income households, and consumption growth. However, relative to developed economies, very little is known on this subject in South Africa. Using structured questionnaires, this study examines electricity use behaviour among high-income households in Johannesburg, South Africa. Findings indicate evidence of electricity-saving behaviour, but the proportion of households doing so was less than 50% for many actions, indicative of widespread wasteful habits. Other particular wasteful electricity use habits include leaving electronic gadgets and appliances on ‘standby’ mode, not turning off electric water heaters and not defrosting fridges without automatic settings. The findings lend support to the positive and negative influence of self-transcendence and egoistic values respectively on environmental behaviour, but other value orientations did not yield significant relationships. The implications of the findings on practical interventions for and theoretical constructs underlying strategies for environmentally-sustainable behaviour are discussed.