As homeowners progress moving off the grid, municipal services no longer represent a single point of failure.
There was a time when solar panels, rainwater tanks and boreholes were viewed as luxury additions to a home instead of what they are today – both a necessity and an insurance policy amid failing municipalities.
Years of above-inflation electricity tariff increases, recurring power cuts, water interruptions and ageing infrastructure have fundamentally changed what homeowners expect from their properties.
Those concerns are hardly unfounded. The Auditor-General's latest report on local government paints a troubling picture of municipalities battling deteriorating infrastructure, weak financial management and persistent governance failures, leaving many communities exposed to unreliable electricity and water services.
Residents and businesses continue to experience unreliable service delivery, while many municipalities are struggling to maintain the very networks responsible for delivering electricity and water.
