Fixing the Disconnect Around Energy Access

Over the past two decades, the United Nations, the World Bank, regional development banks, and national governments have led efforts to give more people access to electricity, with about 1.2 billion people gaining access in Asia alone since 2000. Still, these initiatives are not delivering much-needed outcomes in pace, scale, and improvements in quality of life: around 770 million people lacked electricity access as of 2022, and about 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to remain without access in 2030. Drawing on the divergent fates of two community mini-grids in Nigeria, the authors argue that addressing this scenario requires more than the standard prescription of energy access, and that energy access should be coupled with the provision of tools for economic empowerment so that people can use energy to increase their income and lift communities out of poverty.