By Justice Tei Mensah
Africa is home to the largest share of the world’s un-electrified population, thus the term ‘Dark Continent!’
An estimated half a billion people, mostly in rural areas have no electricity.
In recognition of the significant role of electricity in economic development, the region is poised to erase this unwelcome statistic by achieving universal access by 2030 through several national and multilateral initiatives.
The most promising signs of this shift are the emergence of initiatives like Mission 300, Just Energy Transition Partnerships, Africa Mini grids Program, Africa Electrification Initiative, as well as a plethora of country specific programs, all aimed at accelerating the pace of electrification in the region
While these initiatives mark a significant step forward, it is important that these efforts are guided by the core mission of using electricity to stimulate development and tailor the solutions to address structural challenges of the region.
A landmark publication in the Africa Development Forum Series, Electricity Access in Sub-Saharan Africa: Uptake, Reliability, and Complementary Factors for Economic Impact, highlights this crucial lesson: achieving development impact requires more than just expanding access—it depends on reliable supply, meaningful use, and integration with broader development efforts.
Electricity for what? Lighting vs productive uses
As with many ambitious initiatives, there’s a risk of focusing too much on numbers and losing sight of what truly matters.
While metrics can show scale and ambition, they mean little if the outcomes don’t lead to real impact — and electrification programs can be susceptible to this.
Counting the number of connections alone misses the point if the electricity supplied is not capable of supporting meaningful economic activities such as powering household and commercial consumption.
The Energy for Growth Hub reminds us that there is no high-income country with low-energy consumption.
If the ambition of electrification policies is indeed to support economic development, then it must simultaneously ensure that there is a reliable and affordable supply of electricity capable of powering economic activities.
Any effort to increase connectivity without addressing the frequent outages in the region would fail to deliver development.
This isn’t to downplay the importance of expanding access, but rather to caution against settling for minimal service, such as basic lighting, without enabling the use of productive appliances that can power businesses, schools, hospitals, and livelihoods.
Under Mission 300, there is a conscious effort being made to expand residential connections along with electricity access to businesses and essential services, such as schools, health facilities, and job-creating industries such as healthcare, agriculture, hospitality, and manufacturing. I
n parallel, the initiative is investing across the electricity value chain—including in generation, transmission, and sector reforms—to ensure that these new connections are supplied with affordable and reliable electricity.
Electricity alone is not a silver bullet
A pitfall among development practitioners is the tendency to fixate on a single solution—believing that one intervention alone can dramatically transform outcomes.
Electricity is definitely a transformational infrastructure on which modern economies thrive.
However, electricity on its own cannot supercharge economic development—it becomes a powerful one when paired with complementary infrastructure like roads, and digital connectivity. Indeed, research has shown significant complementarities in the development impact of infrastructure provision.
What this means in practice is that initiatives in the energy sector must be sequenced with other development programs in countries to maximize the development impact. Otherwise, we run the risks of future studies questioning the returns on such massive investments.
Avoid the temptation of fixating on short-term gains
In 1987, Robert Solow, a Nobel-winning economist and MIT professor, famously quibbled “I see computers everywhere except in the productivity statistics.”
Fast forward to today, it appears unconscionable for anyone to question the critical role of computers and associated digital technologies in boosting productivity.
The reason is that digital technologies, just like electricity, are general purpose technologies (GPTs). The benefits of technologies take time to materialize, partly because they boost other sectors of the economy.
When there’s little investment in the sectors that rely on them, their impact may seem limited—not because the technologies are ineffective, but because the necessary supporting conditions are missing.
One compelling example is research by Taryn Dinkelman and co-authors who show that the median time for adoption of basic electrical appliances by rural households in South Africa after electricity connection is between 4-10 years.
The slow adoption rate is not a reflection of low demand per se, but a revelation of the binding income constraints that many rural households face.
In fact, the research shows that access to reliable income streams facilitates faster uptake of these appliances.
The key takeaway is that, given current constraints, the adoption of appliances may be slow—delaying economic transformation. Without intentionally linking electrification to broader development efforts, expecting to see its impact in rural Africa’s growth statistics may be premature.
On the same note, let me caution against leaning on the Dinkelman et al. paper to argue that what most people in rural Africa need is merely lighting. My counter argument is simple: show me one place in the world where rural economic transformation happened without electricity that can power productive uses.
Seize the opportunity to fix structural issues confronting African utilities
The low electrification rates in Africa are a symptom of deep-rooted issues in the energy sector.
These include, financially bankrupt utilities, excess political interference in the utility space, corruption, lack of transparency in power purchase agreements, massive technical and non-technical losses, to mention a few. As a result, electricity provision in the region is characterized by low levels of reliability and high energy cost.
World Bank