Conceptual and Institutional Prerequisites for Guiding Equitable Progress Towards Universal Rural Electrification

Rural electrification is a means to improving the socio-economic conditions and living standards of those living in rural areas. Yet, as global rural electrification efforts accelerate under the Sustainable Development Goals 7 (SDG 7), most policies and programs continue to solely target and be evaluated on extending connections, with mixed results. Despite increasing efforts to improve access to modern energy services in rural areas, progress is lagging and, in some cases, falling behind population growth. In fact, recent research suggests that even while new connections maybe provided, household access to essential energy services will still be very unequal even by 2030 without additional efforts. The few studies that have assessed recent cross country and within country variation in rural electrification performance using econometric techniques find this is linked with political systems, indicators such as corruption and government effectiveness and the institutional environment. As we approach the 2030 mark set under the UN SDGs, the IEA continues to project a severe deficit under the current policy scenario. More work must be done to understand drivers of rural electrification successes and transfer these lessons to countries where the deficit prevails despite ongoing efforts. Conceptual developments in energy access and energy poverty measurement encourage us to look beyond connection-based indicators towards improvement across distinct multi-dimensional supply attributes linked with energy services. Indeed, past work has shown that connection-based indicators fail to capture inequities in supply reliability, affordability and use. Moreover, there is very little precedent for linking rural electrification efforts with wider socio-economic and environmental impacts that ultimately justify the implementation of these policies. This is not limited to academic discourse, rather, the SDG 7.1 target itself speaks to the provision of reliable and affordable access to modern energy services for all. Further work is necessary to understand the limitations of connections-focused programs and suggest ways forward.