White Paper on Energy Policy 1998

This document outlined five key objectives: to increase access to affordable energy services particularly to meet the basic needs of the poor, to improve energy governance, to stimulate economic development, to manage energy related environmental impacts particularly focusing on poor households and to secure supply through diversity. In 1998, at the time this paper came out, 40% of all homes and many schools and clinics in South Africa were without access to electricity supply. This was an important document and in many respects set the scene for some of the policies and strategies that followed (Govt. of South Africa, 1998).