electrification

Upgrading Karachi’s electricity network from bare low-voltage wires to aerial bundled cables significantly reduced theft and feeder losses, leading to improved revenue recovery and fewer power outages. However, while the intervention strengthened the...

Electricity clearly improves people’s quality of life. But in Rwanda, even one decade after communities were connected, rural electrification had limited effects on incomes, employment, and broader economic development.

In rural India, roads and electricity complement each other, with their joint provision delivering far greater gains in dry-season agricultural productivity, assets, and consumption than either investment alone.

Electrification is often seen as the spark for development. But in much of Africa, the biggest benefits may come not from households plugging in, but from the community services that light up around them.

The economic benefits of expanding electricity access likely do not outweigh the costs in small rural villages, but likely do in larger communities.

A social norm in which people deserve access to electricity regardless of payment may actually be undermining efforts for universal access

To what extent do the poorest rural households in sub-Saharan Africa benefit from residential electrification investments?

A programme providing rural Indian communities with basic access to electricity did not have broader social or economic impacts in these communities