Articles

The challenge of rural electrification

Adriaan Zomers[1]
Falkejacht 27, 9254 EJ Hardegarijp, the Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0) 511 472171; fax: +31 (0) 511 472482; e-mail: [email protected]

In this paper we summarise the results of a recent study on the various aspects of rural electrifi-
cation [Zomers, 2001]. The objective of this study was to identify and assess relevant developments
and trends, to look ahead to opportunities for electricity supply to rural and remote areas in the
developing world, and to translate the results into critical success factors and recommendations for
decision-makers. We also touch upon a recent and relevant initiative, the Global Village Energy
Partnership.

1. Background areas, and to translate the results into recommendations

The majority of the population living in developing coun- for decision-makers. The study linked existing theoretical
tries does not have access to modern forms of energy and knowledge, practical experience and empirical findings,
most of these two billion people are poor and live in rural was approached from an utility perspective, and was
areas. These rural dwellers rely on wood-fuel for their marked by its width and multi-disciplinary character.
cooking and heating needs and, contrary to what is often The work sought to complement existing literature and
thought, most of them give priority to modern energy to act as a vehicle for transferring specific managerial
sources over many other necessities. Because of the lack know-how and, in particular, know-why. Thus it can con-
of energy, including electricity, social and economic de- tribute to the betterment of the situation of rural commu-
velopment is very limited or absent and living conditions nities in the developing regions, and to the performance
remain at the low subsistence level. To foster rural devel- of the organisations serving their areas. Though the out-
opment and adequate living conditions for the rural popu- come of the study is mainly relevant to developing coun-
lation both traditional and modern forms of energy will tries, countries with a mature electric infrastructure might
be needed. also find some of the results useful.
It is generally accepted that there are well-performing
utilities in the developing world, even in terms of elec- 2. Benefits of rural electrification
trification of rural areas. But there are many other devel- Rural electrification is potentially a desirable investment
oping countries where efforts to provide electricity to in many countries but there has been considerable discus-
rural areas have only had limited success. Despite inter- sion about the socio-economic and environmental bene-
national support, many utilities continue to show substan- fits, and the costs of the electrification of these areas in
dard performance. developing countries. The idea that rural electrification in
As a result of recent technological advances, various itself substantially contributes to the development of rural
alternative and lower-cost options have emerged involving and remote areas was already questioned in the eighties.
both traditional and renewable sources. These technologi- On one hand this was prompted by the experience that
cal developments coincide with a growing concern for the most of the expectations were structurally not met, and
ecological health of our planet and, in particular, the im- on the other by a growing discomfort about the below-
pact of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. Inter- standard performance of many rural power systems in de-
national and national agreements are forcing utilities to veloping countries. Demand forecast was often based on
reduce emissions and, as a consequence, programmes are over-optimistic expectations regarding regional develop-
being implemented to increase the efficiency of the pro- ment and peoples ability to pay. Another idea was that
duction and use of energy, and to promote the deployment the use of electricity for productive purposes has been
of renewables. very limited. Some reports even suggested a loss of pro-
Other important developments, which are mainly driven duction due to an unreliable electricity service.
by neo-liberal ideology, are the recent regulatory changes It is noted that at the time most impact studies were of
and the introduction of competition into the electricity a descriptive nature but generally speaking there existed
supply industry in industrialised countries and in some no acceptable correspondence between costs and benefits.
developing countries. There is general agreement that the costs and benefits of
These developments provided the impetus for starting rural electrification are very difficult to value. But the
the study on electricity supply to rural areas. The objec- results of ongoing research based on an advanced assess-
tive of the study was to identify and assess technical de- ment of the benefits suggest that the socio-economic
velopments and institutional trends, to look ahead to benefits of rural electrification are much higher than was
opportunities for electricity supply to rural and remote earlier assumed.

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For many rural people in the Third World, however, The latter already had reasonably developed economies
electrification of their areas means modernity, progress and rural infrastructures, and they could afford to invest
and, above all, light in the darkness. in electrification. In many European countries, electrifica-
During a recent socio-economic impact evaluation in tion was considered to be more than merely an economic
Bangladesh, a villager even appreciated electricity as activity; the electricity supply to rural areas was seen as
freedom. In the early 1940s a farmer, who had just been socially important. The economies of the majority of de-
connected to the electric grid, gave witness in a rural veloping countries are weak and do not allow major in-
church in the United States of America: Brothers and vestments in infrastructure.
sisters, I want to tell you this. The greatest thing on earth As the historical analysis has shown, the electrification
is to have the love of God in your heart, and the next of rural areas should not be assessed as an independent
greatest thing is to have electricity in your house. activity, but rather as one of the components of an inte-
A priest in the parish of Bansha in rural Ireland said grated rural development programme. We should not ask
during a speech on the occasion of the completion of the ourselves whether electrification of certain areas is feasi-
electrification of the area in the fifties: It is more that ble, but what we are willing to spend for improvement of
an amenity, it is a revolution which will sweep away in- living conditions and rural development in general. There
feriority complexes. is also evidence that an integrated approach to rural de-
More recently, the author enjoyed a dinner with friends velopment, including electrification, could lead to produc-
in Lesotho in their unelectrified home. The food was ex- tivity and business activity synergies, provided that the
cellent and, for someone who takes electricity for granted, energy service is reliable. Entrepreneurs in rural areas of
candlelight can contribute to a cosy atmosphere. However, the developing world consider an unreliable and low serv-
his friends daily discomfort caused by the lack of elec- ice quality as the most important problem for their com-
tricity contributed to the commitment to complete this ru- panies.
ral electrification study. In many countries, either a national or a provincial
The impact on peoples lives of a rural society without power utility was considered appropriate in order to avoid
electricity is difficult to imagine. Life without electricity municipal boundaries hampering the development of an
is possible, as has been demonstrated in the past and is economically justified electricity infrastructure, and to
still demonstrated every day by many people all over the achieve an acceptable area coverage and sufficient uni-
world. But in qualitative terms, things look completely formity of tariffs. Small-scale private rural utilities have
different. Because electricity is seen as a light in the seldom proved to be successful (Figure 1).
darkness and a symbol of progress, the electrification of In quite a few countries co-operatives have been suc-
rural areas can be seen as socially and politically very cessful, but success seems to be linked with the specific
important. situation and culture in the country, and the opportunities
for technical, administrative and managerial support. In
3. Research findings many industrialised countries, and some developing coun-
Earlier research on electricity supply to rural areas has tries, separate organisations were made responsible for the
tended to address the technical and financial performance implementation of rural electrification programmes. These
of both grid-connected and decentralised power systems organisations were frequently decentralised offices of na-
and the socio-economic impact of electrification. The im- tional utilities or, in some cases, specially established co-
plications of recent power sector developments and trends operatives.
for utility organisation and management seem to have re- Semi-governmental monopolies proved to be a good so-
ceived less attention. In the present study rural electrifi- lution in the power sector and the experiences in the in-
cation programmes implemented in both industrialised dustrialised world showed that this arrangement
and developing countries were analysed and conclusions safeguarded the continuity of the utility and avoided ne-
drawn. glect of financially less attractive supply areas. However,
The survey of a number of cases revealed that economic rigid legislation and a bureaucratic attitude have often
circumstances were not apparently a decisive factor in the given monopolistic utilities the reputation of being non-
wide-scale electrification of rural areas in industrialised participative and have hampered energy-efficient joint
countries. It is also fair to conclude that at a national level, power generation with, for example, industry.
in most cases, politicians have been far from proactive. The experience in many countries shows that the per-
The power of lobbies and pressure groups was probably formance of government-owned utilities can be satisfac-
a larger determinant. In many countries the rural popula- tory provided they are able to operate at arms length from
tion had to rise up against neglect before any actions on the politicians and are reasonably autonomous. Such or-
the electrification of their areas were taken. In general, ganisations have established and maintained a reliable and
the political leverage of the rural population in developing affordable electricity supply and have also demonstrated
countries is low and this underlines the importance of a in other respects an appropriate performance. The ongoing
proactive and worldwide approach to the problems that reform of the power sector in industrialised countries is
rural populations experience. therefore not induced by a substandard performance of
There is a salient difference between countries devel- the utilities, but is rather the result of the prevailing neo-
oping today and the industrialised nations around 1900. liberal ideology. Privatisation and the introduction of

70 Energy for Sustainable Development ! Volume VII No. 1 ! March 2003

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competition in the power sector are seen as means to im-

prove the efficiency relative to that in a monopolistic situ-
ation. Under a liberalised regime the government is
perceived as withdrawing from the power sector, but ex-
perience shows that strong regulation is needed to avoid
the neglect of energy efficiency issues and the deployment
of renewables, and to protect certain consumer groups.
Government intervention is also required to control the
monopolistic grids and the charges for the transmission
of electricity.
During the creation of the electricity infrastructure,
many power utilities were vertically integrated to ensure
an appropriate tuning of generation, transmission and dis-
tribution of electricity. In many industrialised countries,
deregulation changed the monopoly-based electricity sec-
tor into one with a competitive market in both generation
and retail sale of electricity. The unbundling of generation,
transmission and distribution is seen as a necessity in es-
tablishing a successful open electricity market. But this
unbundling implies a fragmentation of the electricity sup-
ply sector with the associated risk of insufficient co-or-
dination between the sub-sectors. Such a situation might
be acceptable and manageable in the case of mature in-
frastructures and low demand growth, but it involves sub-
stantial risks if the infrastructure is expanding and demand
is increasing at more than just a few per cent per annum,
as is the case in many developing countries.
The main causes of the substandard performance of
utilities and the disappointing results of a number of rural
electrification projects in some developing countries are
Figure 1. Informal private distribution system
the uneconomically low tariffs, a lack of operational
autonomy and, in some cases, extreme political interfer-
ence. This disappointing performance, and the inability of
governments to finance the construction of the infrastruc-
ture, often led, under international pressure, to reform and
privatisation of the power sector in these countries. The
displacement model shown in Figure 2 illustrates the po-
tential negative influence of, for example, massive politi-
cal influence on utility operations. Even societal interests
could be jeopardised. The message from this figure is
clear: the various domains need to be equally addressed.
It is extremely important that the national government
provides for the appropriate enabling environment.
The unsatisfactory situation in several developing coun-
tries demands reforms to the electricity sector. However,
the extent of any reform should be approached with a
healthy degree of scepticism: the market is relatively
small, the infrastructure is limited and expanding, and
often the human resources needed for strong regulation
are lacking. While industrialised countries could ask
themselves the question What is the maximum amount
of power sector reform that is desirable?, the question
for the developing regions could be What is the minimum
reform needed to achieve proper working relations be-
tween the political elite and utility management?
The electrification of rural areas has traditionally been
based on electricity supply from a central grid. This pref-
erence emerged at the beginning of the last century due
to the economies of scale achieved with large power Figure 2. Simplified displacement model with five influence domains

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stations. Decentralised schemes with, for example, diesel

generators often led to relatively expensive electricity sup-
ply systems (Figure 3). However, as a result of recent
technological advances, various alternative options have
emerged involving both traditional and renewable sources.
These technologies that offer enhanced opportunities for
decentralised power systems include photovoltaic systems
(Figure 4), wind turbines, biomass-fuelled combined heat
and power units, and fuel cells.
Although a renaissance for decentralised power supply
is clearly visible, centralised grid systems will continue
to play a major role in power supply, though the function
of the grid will change. In countries with a mature electric
infrastructure, the emergence of decentralised generators
Figure 3. Island diesel power station, installed capacity 2000 kW (picture has already caused the function of some distribution grids
courtesy NUON) to change from a passive one-way system into a dynamic
multi-functional one. In some cases, expensive adapta-
tions to the existing grids are needed to safeguard power
system stability.
In many developing countries, rural areas offer oppor-
tunities to deploy power systems based on small-scale hy-
dro power, solar energy and biomass. These areas offer
an electrification green field where the selection of the
technological option can be determined by the locally
available resources, the financial situation, the features of
the supply area, and the environmental impact.
A general conclusion is that rural electricity supply has
always been considerably more expensive than the supply
to urban areas and, as a consequence, utilities have been
reluctant to extend the service to rural areas. Table 1 sum-
marises, for the purpose of mutual comparison, a number
of features specific to urban/industrialised supply areas
and rural supply areas. The combined effects of the spe-
cific features of rural power systems and their more prob-
Figure 4. PV village power supply (picture courtesy Shell Renewables)
lematic operation and maintenance make the marginal
costs of electricity supply to rural consumers high relative
to those for consumers in urban areas.
If affordable tariffs are assumed, a cost-benefit analysis
of a rural electrification project in itself will usually show
a negative outcome. Figure 5 illustrates the high cost per
connection in the case of small grid systems.
The analysis of a number of electrification projects and
a cost estimation (see Box 1) reveals that the average in-
vestment cost of a rural connection to a central grid, in-
cluding the cost of generating capacity, transmission and
distribution grid, and service connection amounts to ap-
proximately US$ 1900.
If the principle of the customer pays the real costs
were to be generally applied, the poorest of the rural popu-
lation in particular would be unable to use electricity de-
spite the fact that they usually consume a very limited
number of units and could afford to pay for their con-
sumption against a lifeline rate.
There is evidence that rural communities in industrial-
ised countries have in only very few instances shown in-
itiative for self-financing the electrification of their areas.
In nearly all countries affordable electrification was only
Figure 5. Relation between number of grid connections and cost per con- achieved through special national programmes and financ-
nection (LV and MV system included). Based on an analysis of 31 projects. ing arrangements. Up to 50 % government subsidies have

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been given towards the initial investments, and long-term,

Box 1. Cost estimation of rural electrification
low-interest or interest-free, loans were provided to fi-
nance the electrical infrastructure. Cross-subsidisation In this cost estimation the global costs for a given
was and still is generally in force. It has been estimated consumption level are calculated. The impact of
that in Ireland, at the end of the sixties, rural prices were utility profits, losses and costs of outages and
lower by some 29 % and urban prices higher by almost brown-outs on total costs has been neglected. For
9 % than they would have been without cross-subsidisa- the capital costs, and operation and maintenance
tion. Despite financial support, returns on investment costs, thermal power generation has been assumed.
were as low as 5 % in some cases. Asssumptions: Capital cost of generation, US$
As a result of recent developments the electricity sup- 1000/kW; fuel costs of generation, 7 US/kWh;
ply sector in many industrialised and developing countries average capital cost of HV transmission, US$
faces unprecedented changes which affect both the sector 125/connection; average capital cost MV/LV
itself and its customers. Current developments often re- distribution (with overhead lines), US$
fer to environmental, technological, societal and insti- 1200/connection; average capital cost of service of
tutional issues and there is a growing consensus that connection, US$ 100/connection; average household
the notion of sustainability should be at the centre of load factor, 0.28; household coincidence factor,
all our activities. 0.85; maximum load/household, 0.4 kW; reserve
One of the most important developments is the way in margin for generation, 1.3; depreciation, 25 years;
which decisions are supposed to be made. In the field of interest, 7 %; annual operation and maintenance
power supply projects, four main criteria for decision- costs, 4 % of capital costs for distribution and
making can be identified. transmission grid, 7 % for generation installations
The need: what is necessary. and 2 % for service connections.
The environment: what is acceptable. The average installed generation capacity per
The economy: what is affordable. connection can be estimated as 0.85 x 0.4 x 1.3 =
The technology: what is feasible. 0.442 kW and the associated investment costs as
In this respect environment covers the ecological, so- US$ 442. (For comparison: Europe 1.3 kW/person
cietal and human aspects. and for North America 2.4 kW/person.)
Although the criteria for decision-making have re- The total investment cost per connection including
mained the same, the order of priority of these criteria generation, transmission, distribution and service
has changed over the last decade. This evolution in deci- connection amounts to US$ 1876. The average
sion-making is largely induced by growing environmental connection consumption is 0.28 x 0.4 x 8760 = 981
concerns and also by the negative implications of some kWh/year.
power projects on the local population and the associated
inadequate compensation. In the past the technological

Table 1. Typical features of industrial/urban and rural supply areas

Feature Industrial/urban supply areas Rural supply areas

2
Area load density (kW/km ) 500 to 100,000 2 to 50
2
Consumer density (conn/km ) >500 1 to 75

Number of consumers per km line length >75 1 to 75

(both MV and LV included)

Consumption density (kWh/km2) >2,000,000 5,000 to 200,000

Total costs/kWh (US) 10 to 15 Grid-based: 12 to 50

Diesel-based: 25 to 100 or more
PV home systems-based: 50 to 500

Investment costs per connection (US$), <500 500 to 7000, average 1200, extremes of over
excluding generation and transmission 100,000
Social aspects Limited Specific financial support and solutions
needed

Technical/organisational aspects Large projects; often heavy power Various technologies and small-scale
technologies on supply and demand side; applications; low load factor because of
reasonable load factors as a result of mixed dominant domestic and agricultural loads;
loads intensive customer support needed; ratio of
labour to capital high

Socio-cultural aspects Seldom of importance Important

Economic aspects Profitable business opportunities Limited profitable business opportunities

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possibilities dominated, immediately followed by the eco- ity of the rural population in developing countries are
nomic aspects of power projects. This was because elec- poor, but nevertheless willing to pay a substantial part
tricity demand grew so fast that advanced technical of their income for reliable electricity. Despite this,
solutions had to be developed. Concerns about the eco- subsidies on initial investments and appropriate financ-
logical effects of energy production and use have pro- ing schemes with smart subsidies for the beneficiaries
moted the relatively recent development of advanced wind will be needed.
turbines, combined heat and power and combined cycle An appropriate electrification process. To meet the de-
units, photovoltaic systems, energy-efficient appliances mand for energy services in the most efficient, sustain-
and other sophisticated equipment. able and environmentally and socially acceptable ways,
the electrification process should consider all the local
4. The challenge and success factors opportunities for power production. Electrification
The linkages between sustainable development and appro- should preferably be a component of an integrated rural
priate energy services have long been debated but it is development programme.
now generally accepted that they are critical. Leaving fair- More so than in the past, the electrification of rural
ness, equity and socio-economic development aside, the and remote areas in developing countries will be based
world can no longer continue to neglect, in terms of access on decentralised power facilities, including solar home
to affordable electricity, the still unserved rural and remote systems. These systems are an attractive option for sat-
areas. Progressive unification will gradually force the in- isfying initial electricity needs. However, as well-be-
ternational community to satisfy the material needs of the ing increases so does electricity demand, with the
global population, and energy, particularly electricity, will consequence that, after time, a more powerful electric-
play an important role in this respect. The question will ity supply will be needed. This evolution is one of the
not be whether rural areas are to be electrified, but reasons why any rural electrification activity should
rather when. be designed and implemented within a policy frame-
As demonstrated by space research, mankind is techni- work and in a well-planned manner.
cally and organisationally capable of realising complex Excess power generated by rural industrial enterprises
and impressive projects. We are capable of having a num- can be used to support public electricity supply and
ber of people remaining extraterrestrial for many months. small-scale independent power producers should be
Further removed from us than the furthermost rural- seen as fully-fledged suppliers of electricity (Figure
dweller on this planet, the astronauts have an extremely 6). These observations require a close co-operation be-
reliable electricity supply at their disposal for food prepa- tween the utility and rural customers, and thus a well-
ration, air-conditioning, heating, telecommunication, developed marketing and technical function.
video equipment and scientific experiments. The power A well-developed strategy. The strategy should be
available on board the Space Station Alpha for housekeep- based on the importance of establishing a close rela-
ing and medical care could fulfil the basic electricity tionship with all stakeholders, energy efficiency meas-
needs of a few hundred rural households in developing ures, the deployment of renewables, and consideration
countries by using modern energy-efficient appliances. of a multifunction utility.
There is no reason to believe that extraterrestrial power An appropriate utility organisation. The organisation
supply is economically more feasible, technically less should be adapted to the environment in which the util-
complicated, or socially more imperative than the energy ity has to operate, and be based on decentralisation and
supply to the underdeveloped rural and remote areas on operational autonomy. Figure 7 illustrates the interre-
earth. lationship between the organisation and its major in-
It is generally accepted that rural electricity supply is fluence domains. Given the differences in the business
expensive relative to urban electricity supply and has environment and available human resources, utilities in
therefore often been considered by utilities as somewhat industrialised and developing countries are often not
of an irritant. But continuation of the business-as-usual comparable in terms of organisation and management.
approach is not a solution for the two billion people still The degree of maturity of the infrastructures, the tech-
without access to electricity. In view of the currently nology deployed for rural electricity supply and back-
available technological options and international commu- grounds differ from country to country and, as an
nity support, rural electrification should be seen as a chal- obvious consequence, the decision-makers will have to
lenge. To succeed in this challenge and to successfully adopt those solutions that are appropriate to their local
implement future rural electrification programmes the ap- circumstances. However, there are more or less univer-
propriate circumstances are needed and in this respect the sal organisational and managerial preconditions. Clas-
study has revealed a number of critical success factors: sical organisation theories focus on internal events and
A politically and socially stable environment. to a large extent neglect the external situation, and
Proper institutional conditions. Appropriate legislation would thus seem inappropriate to tackle utility organ-
and regulation to enable a commercial approach to isation problems. Contingency theory takes the situ-
power supply and utility operations at more than an ation and the environment in which the problems occur
arms length from the political world. as a starting-point followed by the selection, from ex-
Support from the international community. The major- isting theories, of the appropriate organisational and

74 Energy for Sustainable Development ! Volume VII No. 1 ! March 2003

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managerial principles. This theory therefore provides a

basis with which to address an organisation as a so-
cio-technical system in interaction with its environ-
ment, and would thus seem an appropriate tool for the
design of organisation structures and the associated
management concepts under the current dynamic cir-
cumstances.
5. Global initiatives
In the past few years several international energy-related
mechanisms have been implemented, such as the Global
Environment Facility (GEF), the Prototype Carbon Fund
(PCF), Joint Implementation (JI), the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM), the Photovoltaic Market Transforma-
tion Initiative (PVMTI) and the Solar Development Group Figure 6. Combined cattle and wind farm (the Netherlands): partnership
(SDG). Though these efforts have linkages with sustain- between the local utility and a farmer
able development, most of them were basically initiated
to tackle climate change and actually very few have the
reduction of rural energy poverty as their starting-point.
For example the SDG aims at accelerating the penetration
of off-grid solar PV in the developing world, thus im-
proving rural access to affordable and reliable electric
power and achieving related social, economic and envi-
ronmental benefits. The PCF aims at mitigating climate
change, demonstrating the possibilities of relevant public-
private partnerships and promoting sustainable develop-
ment.
However, the electrification of rural areas in the devel-
oping world will only marginally contribute to climate
change. If the households of all 2 billion rural dwellers
were supplied with electricity generated with an average
fuel-mix the effect, in terms of carbon dioxide emission,
would only add about 1 % to the 2000 global emission
of carbon dioxide. From this point of view there is little
reason to expect that rural electrification will particularly
benefit from most of these carbon reduction initiatives.
Despite liberalisation efforts there are indications that
the private sector is not interested in rural electrification.
There is growing consensus among international develop-
ment partners that an integrated global strategy to tackle Figure 7. Simplified situational model
rural development is needed to meet poverty reduction
targets and the energy needs of the rural population. and modern forms, will have to play an important role in
This is one of the reasons why the World Summit on the development process and the WSSD could provide the
Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg necessary frameworks for the mainstreaming of energy
from 26 August to 4 September last year, is a very im- programmes in rural development strategies.
portant event. The conclusions of this summit intend to So-called Type 2 partnerships of any combination of
create an opportunity to identify concrete steps and targets organisations including governments, NGOs, international
for the better implementation of Agenda 21, which was institutions and the private sector are major outcomes of
adopted by the international community during the 1992 the summit. These partnerships are of a voluntary, self-
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Agenda 21 is a global organising nature, have clear objectives and time-frames
plan of action for sustainable development and was the and may be considered an integral part of the summit,
response to growing concerns about the poverty and even though they are not subject to any political negotia-
health situation and the environmental degradation in de- tion process.
veloping countries. The WSSD also has clear linkages One of the most promising Type 2 initiatives presented
with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals during the WSSD is the Global Village Energy Partnership
(MDGs): quantified objectives in several areas including (GVEP). This partnership is supported by a large number
poverty reduction, education, infant mortality, water sup- of countries and organisations, and seeks to create a
ply and environment. global alliance focused on implementation to reduce pov-
There is sufficient evidence that energy, both traditional erty and enhance economic and social development

Energy for Sustainable Development ! Volume VII No. 1 ! March 2003 75

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through the accelerated provision of modern energy serv- UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), 2000. Pri-
vatization, Competition and Regulation in the British Electricity Industry, with Implications for
ices to those presently unserved. This challenging effort Developing Countries, Report 226/00, Washington, February.
would capitalise on existing expertise and bring together UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), 1997b.
developing and industrialised country governments, public Thailands Approach to Rural Electrification: How Was It Successful?, draft, Washington.
and private organisations, multilateral institutions, benefi- UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), 2000a.
ciaries and suppliers and other key stakeholders to re- Implementation Manual: Financing Mechanisms for Solar Electric Equipment, Report 231/00,
Washington, July.
solve linkages between energy and poverty reduction in
UNDP/World Bank Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), 2000b.
rural areas, facilitate the development and implementation Best Practices for Sustainable Development of Microhydro Power in Developing Countries,
of service delivery models, and catalyse the scale-up of ESMAP Technical Paper 006, Washington.
investments in rural energy development projects and pro- Flavin, C., et al., 1994a. Powering the Future: Blueprint for a Sustainable Electricity Industry,
grammes. The next step after the summit is to elaborate World Watch Paper 119, Washington, June.

on the concept and to determine support for this initiative Fluitman, F., 1983. The Socio-economic Impact of Rural Electrification in Developing Coun-
tries, a Review of Evidence, International Labour Organization, Working Paper No. 126,
from additional partner organisations, governments, devel- Geneva.
opment organisations, the private sector, non-governmen- Foley, G., 1990. Electricity for Rural People, London.
tal organisations and the financial community. Foley, G., 1995. Photovoltaic Applications in Rural Areas of the Developing World, World
Bank Energy Series 304, Washington.
Note
Gerger, A., and Gullberg, M., 1997. Rural Power Supply with Local Management, Stockholm
1.The author has worked for many years in the Dutch electricity supply industry and is
Environmental Institute, Stockholm.
currently an advisor to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is a member of the Council
on Large Electric Systems, CIGR. The opinions expressed in this paper are entirely the Girod, I., and Percebois, J., 1998. Reform in sub-Saharan Africas power industries, Energy
authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of these organisations. Policy, Vol. 26, No. 1.
Inversin, A.R., 1995. New Designs for Rural Electrification, National Rural Electric Coopera-
References
tive Association et al., Washington.
(Literature on the subject is very comprehensive. A selection of readings is listed below
Lakervi, E., and Holmes, E.J., 1995. Electricity Distribution Network Design, Stevenage, UK.
under Additional reading. A full list of documents used for the study can be found in
[Zomers, 2001] under Bibliography.) Mason, M., 1990. Rural Electrification: a Review of World Bank and USAID Financed Pro-
jects, background paper, Washington, April.
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46, Washington.

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