Rural electrification has been claimed to have substantial benefits, promoting production and better health and education. Yet coverage rates remain very low across Africa and in some other countries around the world. New analysis by the World Bank’s IEG, presented in a Rural Electrification Impact Workshop finds empirical support for many of these links. This report also demonstrates rates of return on rural electrification projects are sufficient to warrant the investment. Moreover, it shows that consumer willingness to pay for electricity is almost always at or above supply cost. Given these findings, the report argues that rural electrification is both an important goal and a feasible one. However, the World Bank has frequently neglected the poverty dimension failing to do all it can to ensure that the poor benefit from rural electrification.

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