Non-payment culture and the financial performance of urban electricity utilities in South Africa

Murwirapachena, Genius; Kabange, Martin; Ifeacho, Christopher I.

doi:10.1080/0376835x.2022.2051438

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…These influential authors align with early policy reports that have alluded to a “culture” of nonpayment for the infrastructural woes of the global South (see, for instance, Briceño‐Garmendia & Shkaratan, 2011, p. 100; Rosnes & Shkaratan, 2011, p. 122); this language continues to appear in business reports related to Africa's electricity sector (see ESI‐Africa, 2022) but does not describe what a culture of nonpayment across SSA and South Asia entails in concrete terms. This idea also appears to have stemmed from Smith (2004), and in the context of South Africa (SA) (see Murwirapachena et al, 2022 on “culture of nonpayment” in apartheid SA), which includes possibly the first instance of the term “culture of non‐payment” in a major research publication. While Smith concludes that in South Africa, “a ‘culture of non‐payment’ is evident,” the article cites a 1999 conference paper—now unavailable in the public domain—as the only source of support (Smith, 2004, p. 2069).…”

Section: Dominant Policy and Business Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits of energy access research on unreliability

Jacome

2023

J of Intl Development

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Electricity users in sub‐Saharan Africa face persistent unreliable and unaffordable access. However, users' perspectives and experiences have largely been absent from policy literature. Content analysis of energy access policy literature reveals two long‐held assumptions: (1) any connection is better than no connection; (2) residents who object to this poor access have an entitlement problem. This paper critically interrogates these assumptions by using ethnographic data gathered during fieldwork in Unguja, Tanzania. It finds that long‐held policy justifications are easily contravened by real‐life experiences of sub‐par service and counters conventional narratives that blame users for the failure of electricity systems in their communities.

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Section: Dominant Policy and Business Narrativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits of energy access research on unreliability

Jacome

2023

J of Intl Development

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Can commercialisation address consumer debt in local government? A case study of South African metropolitan municipalities

Murwirapachena

Kabange

2023

Canadian Journal of Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'ét

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Definition of Regulatory Targets for Electricity Default Rate in Brazil: Proposition of a Fuzzy Inference-Based Model

Celestino,

Calili,

Louzada

et al. 2024

Energies

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The current electricity default rates in continental countries, such as Brazil, pose risks to the economic stability and investment capabilities of distribution utilities. This situation results in higher electricity tariffs for regular customers. From a regulatory perspective, the key issue regarding this challenge is devising incentive mechanisms that reward distribution utilities for their operational and investment choices, aiming to mitigate or decrease electricity non-payment rates and avoid tariff increases for regular customers. Despite adhering to the principles of incentive regulation, the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL) uses a methodological approach to define regulatory targets for electricity defaults tied to econometric models developed to determine targets to combat electricity non-technical losses (NTLs). This methodology has been widely criticized by electricity distribution utilities and academics because it includes many ad hoc steps and fails to consider the components that capture the specificities and heterogeneity of distribution utilities. This study proposes a fuzzy inference-based model for defining regulatory default targets built independently of the current methodological approach adopted by ANEEL and aligned with the principles of incentive regulation. An empirical study focusing on the residential class of electricity consumption demonstrated that it is possible to adopt a specific methodology for determining regulatory default targets and that the fuzzy inference approach can meet the necessary premises to ensure that the principles of incentive regulation and the establishment of regulatory targets are consistent with the reality of each electricity distribution utility.

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Non-payment culture and the financial performance of urban electricity utilities in South Africa

Cited by 3 publications

References 26 publications

Limits of energy access research on unreliability

Limits of energy access research on unreliability

Can commercialisation address consumer debt in local government? A case study of South African metropolitan municipalities

Definition of Regulatory Targets for Electricity Default Rate in Brazil: Proposition of a Fuzzy Inference-Based Model

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