Access to modern energy services: An economic and policy framework

Affordable and accessible modern energy services are a pre-requisite for development-economic, environmental or social-and are crucial to reduce poverty and sustain growth. Hence, there is a need to promote the uptake of modern energy. The present study investigates the issue of accessibility of modern energy services in relation to three indicators-availability, affordability and reliability-and suggest practical ways of evaluating them, and identifies various strategies to provide them to the needy households in a cost-effective manner. Promoting the development of small rural enterprises is a key contributor to achieve this goal and a central aspect in this promotion is the large-scale diffusion of Sustainable Energy Technologies, which provide affordable and reliable services. The suggested framework helps the policymakers to identify technologies that are better than others under the present conditions. Implementing and scaling up the energy demand requires collaboration among various actors like households, local bodies, energy utilities, governments, entrepreneurs, research organisations, non-governmental organisations, community groups, financial institutions, and international agencies.