How much electricity does the average African household use?

Answer 1

Average consumption per person living in Mamelodi is around 4kWh per capita (i.e. per person living in the house). For middle income people it could be around 8kWh per person and the very rich sometimes spend around 25kWh per person per hour.

For your family of 4, you should not be spending more than 40kWh per day (but this is already quite a lot). Remember, your household situation (like your pool, electric fences, garage doors, outside lights, security system and appliances inside all use electricity).

The easiest way to save electricity is to limit your geyser use. 1 hour in the morning and 1 in the evening is enough for a family of 4.

And don't use more than 1 fridge/freezer. You may think you need it, but really you don't.

Answer 2

Some Africans live in cities, and they might use electricity in the same way that most people in developed nations do. Some Africans live in shanty towns on the edge of cities, they would have a poor electricity supply, or maybe none. Some Africans live in the vast countryside where there is no electricity at all. Look at the news reports of the trouble near Goma in the Congo - there are thousands of peole driven out of their homes who have no food, and no chance at all of using electricity.