Department says electrification scheme to be ‘repurposed’ to tackle R75bn backlog by 2030

The Department of Electricity and Energy has provided additional information about its proposal to repurpose the Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP) to meet the country’s 2030 universal access commitment – one that would involve electrifying some 1.6-million households at an estimated cost of R75-billion. The grant-based INEP scheme was launched in 2001/2 and Eskom and municipalities have used the R110-billion allocated to the programme over the decades to electrify some 8.4-million households and increase the country’s electrification rate to over 94%.