By Dr Tsungai Mukwashi
Living beside a power station should mean something when you switch on the lights.
Yet in Lephalale, a coal-producing municipality in South Africa, communities near the Matimba and Medupi power stations still struggle with electricity access and affordability. My research found a stark contradiction: a region that helps power the country is home to households struggling to power their own homes.
I call this the Proximity Paradox. Living close to energy production does not guarantee a share in its benefits. Access depends on household income, local infrastructure and decisions about who receives reliable, affordable services. As the world builds cleaner energy systems, the question is not just how much power we generate, but who can use it.
Renewable energy growth is not enough
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the world added 692 gigawatts of renewable generating capacity in 2025. Africa recorded its largest annual increase, adding 11.3 gigawatts. Yet that record represented just 1.6% of global additions. The 2026 Tracking SDG 7 report shows that 655 million people worldwide lacked electricity in 2024. More than 560 million were in sub-Saharan Africa.
Generating capacity and household access measure different things. Their contrast nonetheless exposes a gap that new power plants alone cannot close. They do not pay connection fees, repair overloaded substations or make electricity bills affordable. Those outcomes require investment in distribution networks, household wiring, maintenance and targeted support for low-income families.
Climate change adds urgency. The World Meteorological Organization reports that 2015–2025 were the eleven warmest years on record. In 2025, the global average surface temperature was about 1.43°C above the 1850–1900 average. For families facing extreme heat, reliable power can mean a working fan, pumped water or refrigeration that keeps food safe.
The Kitchen Divide: Energy is about everyday living
The kitchen reveals another divide. The 2026 energy progress report estimates that about two billion people worldwide used polluting cooking fuels and technologies. In sub-Saharan Africa, 970 million people lacked access to clean cooking. Record renewable construction offers little immediate relief to someone still cooking over a smoky stove. Clean cooking needs dedicated finance and affordable options that work in daily life.
In Lephalale, women participating in my research discussed electricity alongside housing, health care and employment. Their experiences showed why energy policy cannot be separated from everyday living conditions. A solar panel may provide light, but it cannot resolve insecure housing or the lack of income needed to pay for essential services.
Coal-dependent communities face an additional uncertainty: what replaces the jobs and local economic activity they have relied on? Training programmes must lead to real opportunities, and transition plans should account for the shops, transport operators, service providers and municipal revenues tied to coal. People deserve credible answers about their livelihoods, not distant promises.
Finance will reveal whether those promises are serious. United Nations reporting shows that international public financial flows supporting clean energy in developing countries reached $24.6 billion in 2024. Yet flows to the least developed countries fell by 11%, to $3.7 billion. These figures concern international public finance, not total energy investment, but they show the need to examine where support goes.
Governments and development banks should measure success in households reached, service reliability and the cost borne by families. They should publish results by settlement, including informal areas, because national averages can conceal exclusion. Where grid extension is impractical, mini-grids and household solar systems can help, provided they meet real needs beyond lighting, including refrigeration, cooking and earning a living.
Planning an energy transition that works for communities
African governments should connect energy planning with housing, land use, infrastructure and local economic development. Zimbabwe’s National Renewable Energy Policy promotes renewable investment and electrification in underserved areas. South Africa’s Integrated National Electrification Programme supports connections for low-income households, including off-grid options. Kenya links county energy planning with national plans, while Rwanda is pursuing both grid expansion and decentralised systems. These approaches differ, but all should be judged by whether services become accessible, dependable and affordable.
Municipalities need the resources and technical skills to deliver, while regulators must protect consumers. Residents also need a voice before decisions are final. Public participation means accessible information, genuine opportunities to influence projects and clear explanations of how community concerns shaped the outcome.
International investors should meet the same standard. Renewable energy, critical mineral and green hydrogen projects can create jobs and revenue, but also compete for land, water and infrastructure. Agreements should specify compensation, grievance procedures and enforceable commitments on local employment, procurement and, where appropriate, community ownership.
Avoid repeating the mistakes of extractive development
Africa has seen the costs of extractive development before. Gold and diamond mining in South Africa, oil extraction in Nigeria’s Niger Delta and copper mining in Zambia have all been associated with environmental harm and unequal distribution of benefits. The shift to clean energy offers an opportunity to avoid repeating those patterns under a different technological label.
This challenge is global, but African experiences make it especially visible. Lephalale shows that distance from a power plant tells us little about whether a household can afford electricity. Planning decisions, infrastructure and institutions determine what happens between generation and the front door.
We should keep counting gigawatts added and emissions reduced. But we should also ask whether families can cook safely, keep food cold, study after dark and run small businesses. Those are measures of an energy transition that people can actually feel.
The world’s clean-energy success will ultimately depend not only on how much power it produces, but on how many people can use it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tsungai Mukwashi holds a PhD from the University of Johannesburg and specialises in urban and regional planning, energy justice, climate change, environmental sustainability and disaster risk reduction. Her work encompasses spatial planning, environmental policy, community resilience and social impact assessment, with a focus on equitable, climate-resilient development in Africa and the Global South.
