Willingness to pay for electricity access in extreme poverty: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa
Improving electricity access in low-income countries is complicated because of high service costs and low electricity consumption levels in rural areas. This study elucidates this problem by analyzing poor Sub-Saharan African households’ willingness-to-pay for different types of electricity access, including both grid and lower cost off-grid technologies. We show both theoretically and empirically that at low levels of income, low-cost decentralized off-grid solar technologies provide the highest utility from the households’ perspective. We, therefore, recommend concentrating the near-term rural household electrification efforts on these technologies.
Sievert, M. und J. Steinbuks (2020), Willingness to pay for electricity access in extreme poverty: Evidence from sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 128, 104859