- Title
- The Impact of Energy Consumption on The Profitability and Renewable Energy Preference among SMEs in The KSD Municipality
- Creator
- Vikela, Sithole Liso
- Subject
- Energy consumption
- Subject
- Cost effectiveness
- Date Issued
- 2019-03
- Date
- 2019-03
- Type
- Master's/Doctoral theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6730
- Identifier
- vital:47570
- Description
- This study investigated the impact of energy consumption on the profitability and renewable energy preference among SMEs in the King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) local municipality. Cross sectional data was collected using a questionnaire and the adoption of information acceleration (IA) technique. The theoretical framework applied in this study is the theory of consumer-fuel-energy choice which is based on the energy ladder model and the associated fuel switching. Short-run sensitivity analysis (SRA), cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and multinomial logit model (MNL) were employed to measure the profitability and switching behaviour of the firms. SRA showed that the average monthly profit/loss by all firm categories were positive indicating a profit in the consumption of non-renewable energy (NRE). In contrast, results showed that all categories of the firms’ ran at loss if they were to switch to the renewable energy (RE) immediately. Results for CBA indicate that only RE system option satisfied the economic viability of all the three CBA decision criteria on both discount rates, proving to be a viable investment choice for all firm categories. The MNL regression results showed that the number of rooms, firm revenue, irregular power experiences, product information, price, business age, firm grades, gender of the respondent, and the educational levels have a statistically significant impact on willingness to switching from substantial to full willingness. The study recommends establishment of financial subsidy to SMEs to enable them switch to RE system. The research also suggests the need for policies and incentives on profit enhancing strategies, symmetric product information and environmental benefits for switching to RE by SMEs in the rural areas. Key words: Energy consumption, Profitability, Willin¬gness to switch, Cost-Benefit analysis, Multinomial logit model.
- Description
- Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Commerce and Administration, 2019
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (108 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Walter Sisulu University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Commerce and Administration/Department of Economics and Business Sciences
- Language
- English
- Rights
- rights holder
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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WSU Department of Economics and Business Sciences
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Mr Sithole VL M.Com Econ Dissertation.pdf | 3 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |