Improving energy access is a major goal of energy policy in all SADC Member States. Everyone in SADC has some degree of access to energy, but this is often restricted and inadequate. People aspire to use more energy and to do so in a way that involves high quality fuels which are readily available, are affordable and attractive enough for people to be willing to pay for them. Increasing access to such „superior‟ forms of energy on a reliable basis is a basic requirement both for sustaining the national level of economic development, for reducing poverty and allowing people to improve their standard of living. Within SADC, improving energy access is fundamentally a national rather than a regional responsibility. Efforts made at the regional level must largely be supportive of and complementary to endeavours at the level of Member States.

At the high level SADC Regional Energy Access workshop held in Maseru on November 4, 2009, the following SADC Energy Access goals were agreed:

Member States have as a strategic goal the harnessing of regional energy resources to ensure, through national and regional action, that all the people of the SADC Region have access to adequate, reliable, least cost, environmentally sustainable energy services.

The operational goal is to endeavour to halve the proportion of people without such access within 10 years for each end use and halve again in successive 5 year periods until there is universal access for all end uses.

It is noted that for some countries 10 years will be too generous for a halving of the access deficit, while for others 10 years may be too difficult, but the 10 year target nonetheless is a useful reference point for discussion of national and regional energy access improvements.

The study commissioned by EUEI PDF consists of a review of the current status of energy access and associated policies, strategies and programmes in the member states, a review of best practice in the SADC and other regions, and the development of proposals for a regional strategy and associated action plan. The aim is to identify where regional concerted action could add more value, bearing in mind principles of subsidiarity (i.e. not overriding national responsibilities).

A first draft strategy has been presented to SADC energy experts in Lesotho in November 2009. The final strategy has been presented to SADC Energy ministers at their annual conference in Luanda, Angola, in April 2010.

SADC: Regional Energy Access Strategy and Action Plan (1.59 MB)