About six in 10 Emaswati (59%) enjoy a reliable supply of electricity, including just 45% of those experiencing high levels of lived poverty.
Key findings
- Practically all Emaswati (99%) live in zones served by the national electric grid.
- More than nine in 10 citizens (92%) live in households that are connected to the national power grid. o Of those who are connected to the grid, about two-thirds (65%) say their electricity works "most" or "all" of the time. o Combining connection and reliability rates shows that about six in 10 (59%) of all Emaswati enjoy a reliable supply of electricity, though these figures are lower among rural residents (57%) and citizens experiencing high levels of lived poverty (45%).
- Electricity ranks far down the list of most important problems that Emaswati want their government to address, cited by only 1% of respondents as a top priority.
- More than six in 10 citizens (63%) say the government is doing a "fairly" or "very" good job of providing a reliable supply of electricity.
With an overall electrification rate of 85% (UNDP Eswatini, 2024), Eswatini boasts one of the highest rates of electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, second in Southern Africa behind South Africa (Nzima, 2021).
Imports make up a large share of electricity consumed in the country (Government of Eswatini, 2018a; ISS African Futures, 2023). Conservative estimates suggest that Eswatini imports about 60%-80% of its energy supply from South Africa's Eskom and Mozambique's Electricidade de Moçambique (African Development Bank, 2021; Club of Mozambique, 2022; Government of Eswatini, 2023), while other approximations place imports from South Africa alone at up to 90% (World Bank, 2024). This makes energy security a significant concern for the country, especially as the current iteration of the import agreement with South Africa's embattled power utility is set to expire next year (Pachymuthu, 2022). In 2022, electricity was the third-most imported product in Eswatini (OEC World, 2024).
To address its over-reliance on imports and ensure a more sustainable energy future, the government of Eswatini has committed to accelerate renewable energy generation (United Nations, 2019). According to the country's Energy Masterplan 2034, Eswatini aims to have a 50% share of renewable energy in the national energy mix by 2030, to be met primarily through the adoption of biomass, hydro, solar, and wind energy technologies (Government of Eswatini, 2018b; UNDP Eswatini, 2021). Embracing the transition toward cleaner sources of energy also promises to contribute to limiting climate change, which is an important item on the government's to-do list (UNDP Eswatini, 2023).
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Eswatini's Independent Power Producer Policy, adopted in 2016, aims for greater private sector participation in the electricity sector (USAID Southern Africa Trade Hub, 2016). Speaking at the 2024 Standard Bank Eswatini Energy Indaba, Eswatini Electricity Co. Managing Director Ernest Mkhonta indicated that the national power utility is eager to collaborate with independent power producers to increase domestic power generation, including by bringing them online to the national electricity grid (Sikhondze, 2024).
A recent Afrobarometer survey provides an on-the-ground look at electricity access in Eswatini. Findings show that while the country enjoys almost total grid coverage, only about six in 10 citizens enjoy a reliable supply of electricity, including fewer than half of the poor.
Even so, electricity ranks far down the list of problems that Emaswati want their government to address, and most citizens applaud the government's performance in providing a reliable electricity supply.
Asafika Mpako Asafika is the communications coordinator for Southern Africa
Stephen Ndoma Stephen is the assistant project manager for Southern Africa
