World Resources Institute (WRI) Working Paper: Strategies for Expanding Universal Access to Electricity Services for Development
23.03.2017
World Resources Institute (WRI) is a Washington-based, global non-profit organization working at research-based solutions in the areas of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being. WRI works with businesses, policymakers, and civil society to design solutions for a sustainable future.
Despite great efforts and the best of intentions, it has according to WRI become apparent that providing a connection to electricity, whether from a grid or off-grid source, does not automatically bring development benefits. If the electricity supply is of poor quality, it constrains productive activity by households and enterprises. Regardless of quality, if electricity is too expensive, consumers will not be able to afford connections, or subsequent payments for service. Equally, even in the presence of good-quality, reasonably priced electricity, if there is not adequate, stable demand from potential users, then energy-service providers will not be able to sustain a viable business and the electrification effort will likely fail. In this paper, WRI proposes that for electricity services to reach those who need them and catalyze development, electrification initiatives should be built on a disaggregated understanding of consumer demand from the bottom-up, exploit the links between electrification and other development sectors and make reliability and affordability of electricity services key considerations.