Direct access to electricity in the household can bring numerous benefits. However, wider access to the benefits of electricity, particularly for the poor, can be achieved through electricity connections for institutions and local enterprises. For example, local businesses can stimulate local economies, increase the value added to local production, create employment, and provide local governments with new revenue sources to provide improved public services. Electrification for institutions, such as hospitals and schools, can bring the education and health benefits of electricity to all members of a community. 

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) can range from from investments in decentralised generation and supply, to mini or micro grids, to community-owned off-grid installations. The purpose of the PACE project is to examine the conditions that are in place when public-private partnerships are, or are not successful in delivering electricity that reaches the poorest segments of the population in a sustainable manner.

Country Assessments and Case Studies

Following countrywide assessments of electricity and PPPs in Ethiopia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, PACE will examine samples of different PPPs in each country. The team will then develop case studies that will cover a broad range of issues, including private sector trust, institutional capacity, levels of access, service satisfaction and quality and tariffs and pricing arrangements.

The case studies will seek to reflect experiences of PPPs from representatives of all areas of the community, from those involved in initiating electrification projects, to investors and end-users. Survey instruments will target the following actors:

• key stakeholders (public sector, community members, private sector, etc.)
• household consumers
• institutional consumer

The purpose of the case studies will be to establish success factors for public-private partnerships that favour wide access to electricity, whilst also examining the other impacts of PPPs on livelihoods - from local environment to gender effects.