Pretoria - The number of South Africans with access to electricity has risen to 83 percent, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said on Thursday.
In its 2009 General Household Survey, 83 percent of the country's citizens had electricity connection compared to only 77 percent in 2002.
The survey, which started in 2002, was instituted because of a need identified by government to determine the level of development in the country and the performance of programmes and projects on a regular basis.
Stats SA said though upward trend of electrification in most provinces had been smooth; this was not the case in the Western Cape and Limpopo where connectivity decreased. The study found that the use of wood and paraffin for cooking decreased consistently in most provinces between 2002 and 2009.
However, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape provinces had the highest rate of paraffin and wood usage at 54.4 and 40.8 percent respectively.
Regarding water access, the figure dwindled 2005's 76 to 58 percent in 2009 while the percentage of households which received piped water from their municipalities increased from 78.2 in 2004 to 83.3 percent in 2009.
