Electricity is highly desired by low-income households, but it is all too often only obtained by the richer people in developing countries. The tremendous sacrifices and high payments that low-income households are often prepared to make to obtain even small amounts indicate the importance that they attach to electricity. Low-cost Electrification looks at why, in most developing countries, efforts to provide electricity to poor households have had only limited success and recommends some appropriate solutions. This Working Paper draws on the experience of experts involved in low-cost electrification snd evidence collected from six developing countries. The paper contains a complete review of the problems faced by poor users which include high connection costs, high costs of house wiring, and houses failing to meet standard requirements, as well as a review of the constraints faced by power utilities such as high capital costs and high revenue-collection costs. The paper suggests a number of new and practical approaches, and ways to implement them, which can make electirifcation more economic for the utility, and spread the benefits of electrification more equitably across the social spectrum. Low-cost Electrification is part of the Intermediate Technology Working Papers series which is designed to make the information that Intermediate Technology is generating about technology and development accessible to a brader readership across the development sector.

Nigel Smith
Dr Nigel Smith is an independent engineering consultant with experience in low-cost electrification in developing countries.