Evaluation of Energy Sources

Evaluation of Energy Sources

Table 1: Fuel Cost Analysis

The main sources of energy available in Monwabisi Park are electricity, liquefied petroleum gas, and paraffin.  Over half of the population in C section has access to electricity.  After speaking with our sponsors Jacques de Toit and Cindy Jacobs during the first week, we discovered that prices for electricity have been rising at an increasing rate, which causes serious concerns for the future of electricity in the settlement (Jacobs, 2009).  Of the residents we spoke to who had access to the grid, most avoided using electric stoves because they wanted to save electricity to use for other appliances. Gas is also available to people in C section, but it is difficult for residents to purchase because they often spend money day-by-day rather than accumulating enough money to buy a gas canister refill.  The only gas store in C section refills a tank of gas for R82, which can last from two weeks to a month depending on usage (Interview with Store Owner, 2009).  Paraffin is the least expensive fuel to buy at a time in Monwabisi Park; it is sold for R6.50 per liter in stores throughout the settlement. Figures in Table 1 are a summary of results from our week-long cooking survey.  As shown in Table 1, using paraffin at an average of six liters every week costs the same or even more than using gas even though it is less expensive to buy at one time.  There are still misconceptions in the community around the cost of gas which are difficult to change, especially when the cost of a gas stove itself is usually more than residents can afford to buy. This boils down to the larger issue of saving money, which in poor communities is a difficult task to grasp and leads to frequent small purchases rather then saving to make a larger more cost efficient purchase. Savings groups and other measures can be a way to curb these issues and are talked about more in depth on the economy page.