Willingness to Pay for Electricity Access in Extreme Poverty Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

Improving electricity access in low-income countries is a challenging problem because of the high costs of grid extension and low demand for grid electricity in rural areas. This study elucidates these constraints by analyzing poor households' willingness-to-pay for different types of electrici...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sievert, Maximiliane
Other Authors: Steinbuks, Jevgenijs
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2019
Series:World Bank E-Library Archive
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02043nmm a2200241 u 4500
001 EB002109391
003 EBX01000000000000001249481
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 221013 ||| eng
100 1 |a Sievert, Maximiliane 
245 0 0 |a Willingness to Pay for Electricity Access in Extreme Poverty  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa  |c Maximiliane Sievert 
260 |a Washington, D.C  |b The World Bank  |c 2019 
300 |a 39 pages 
700 1 |a Steinbuks, Jevgenijs 
700 1 |a Sievert, Maximiliane 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b WOBA  |a World Bank E-Library Archive 
490 0 |a World Bank E-Library Archive 
028 5 0 |a 10.1596/1813-9450-8906 
856 4 0 |u http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/book/10.1596/1813-9450-8906  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 330 
520 |a Improving electricity access in low-income countries is a challenging problem because of the high costs of grid extension and low demand for grid electricity in rural areas. This study elucidates these constraints by analyzing poor households' willingness-to-pay for different types of electricity access, including lower cost off-grid technologies. The theoretical model illustrates how consumer preferences, operational and capital costs of electricity service delivery, and availability of power supply affect households' decisions to acquire electricity technology. These effects are then assessed empirically by estimating beneficiaries' willingness-to-pay for electricity in three low-income countries that have pockets of households living in extreme poverty-Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Rwanda. Consistent with the theoretical model, the results indicate very low household willingness-to-pay for electricity access, and that willingness-to-pay diminishes as households' income declines. Therefore, the study recommends concentrating in the nearer term on ultra-low-cost decentralized off-grid solar technologies in programs to provide household electricity to the poor in rural areas