Why Wait? Seizing the Energy Access Dividend

This report addresses a pressing need to understand what is lost in terms of human and economic development by delaying improved energy access. The report quantifies the foregone benefits of delays by analyzing energy access in various countries.

Developed in collaboration with Power for All, the report explores the concept of an energy access dividend, which decision makers can expect by providing electricity access to populations more quickly. It assigns a specific economic, social and environmental value that households and countries can expect by receiving and delivering different tiers of electricity service. Such a dividend would allow decision makers to estimate the benefits of delivering electricity access faster through decentralized electricity solutions rather than through more conventional, centralized grid-based approaches. These conventional approaches are proven to be more time consuming and expensive.

In the first iteration, the Energy Access Dividend provides estimates for Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Kenya and focuses on financial savings, educational benefits and climate benefits – a subset of the benefits of electrification.