Roughly 9 out of 10 people on Earth have access to electricity. However, there is a difference between having theoretical access to electricity and actually being able to use electricity. When access to electricity is inconsistent due to high costs, poor infrastructure, or any other reason, people experience energy poverty. 

Energy poverty is generally categorized as a “lack of adequate, reliable, and affordable energy for lighting, cooking, heating, and other daily activities necessary for welfare and economic development” (UNDP). Current figures show that while 733 million people don’t have any access to electricity, an even larger amount, 1.18 billion people, are energy poor and unable to use electricity. 

Energy Inequality

Lack of access to energy and energy poverty rates are not equally distributed across the globe. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of energy poverty in the world and the least amount of energy access. Forty-three percent of the population in Africa (600 million people) lack access to energy, most of whom reside in sub-Saharan Africa. Even more of the African population is using unsafe cooking fuel (970 million people) as a result of no or unreliable access.

A woman cooking over wood fires in Burkina Faso.

Energy inequality also has an urban-rural divide. Worldwide, those who reside in rural areas are most likely to be living without energy – 80 percent of people who have no access to electricity live in rural parts of the globe. Distance from the national power grid can make achieving access to energy in these areas a challenge. 

In 2022, due to continued population growth, the number of people living in energy poverty increased for the first time in ten years. The effects of this are seen primarily in sub-Saharan Africa where energy poverty is prevalent and birth rates are among some of the highest in the world – a combination that exacerbates energy access challenges. 

What are the Consequences of Energy Poverty?

On a personal level, without power, everyday tasks are more complicated. Cooking, cleaning, sanitation, food storage, and more are all disrupted when household appliances are not working, or don’t exist. Without energy, households are forced to accomplish daily tasks, like cooking, by relying on pollution-causing fuels like charcoal, coal, kerosene, or biomass. (Biomass energy is energy from plant or animal sources, like wood or animal dung.) 

In particular, this puts women in vulnerable positions, exposing them to indoor air pollution and respiratory disease. Household air pollution from these fuel sources is responsible for 3.2 million premature deaths per year. Globally, 2.3 billion people still rely on polluting cooking fuel, and the women of those households are often bearing the brunt of consequences from living in energy poverty.

Energy efficient stove (Berkeley Darfur Stove) being used with both charcoal and firewood in Lobule Refugee Settlement, West Nile Uganda. These stoves address both energy poverty and the gendered consequences of pollution-causing cooking fuels.

When faced with energy access challenges like relying on biomass as a fuel source, members of a household, typically women, often spend up to 40 hours per week gathering firewood and cooking. Time spent on these tasks takes away from time that can be spent on paid employment, education, and participating in local forms of government. In the long run, inconsistent access to energy can cause harm to both physical and mental health and impair social, political, and economic opportunities.

Load Shedding: Adapting to Energy Poverty

Fuel shortages, unstable power grids, and systems not designed to keep up with the energy demand, have caused some countries to turn to rotational load shedding for both industrial and residential energy consumers. Load shedding is when people experience rolling blackouts for hours at a time in order to distribute energy at times of high demand when supply is low. Countries affected by load shedding include India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon. 

A shop in Nepal relies on battery light during a load shedding outage.

South African residents, for example, have been load shedding on and off since late 2007 (almost 18 years) and can experience about six hours a day with no power. The energy system operates on a load shedding schedule so residents know when to expect power outages, though there are longer stretches of time in which no load shedding is expected.

However, some areas never experience load shedding. In Cape Town, areas near hospitals, sports arenas, and other places where large crowds are expected or that are deemed vital for the function of the area will never be without power. Private residences that are located on these power grids will also not experience load shedding. 

Success in Energy Development: Energy Poverty Solutions

Yet, there are plenty of countries doing great work toward energy access for all. Let’s take a look at the renewable energy transition in Indonesia, for example. Indonesia has made strides in shifting from fossil fuels to clean energy in order to make energy more accessible throughout the country. The state-owned power distributor has expanded its ability to incorporate renewable energy into the power grid, transitioning 160 million people who were dependent on coal energy to solar and wind energy. All the while, they are creating jobs for Indonesian residents. The affordability of these energy sources and local access to them provides a sustainable, consistent source of energy that is helping to alleviate energy poverty for many residents. 

Working Toward SDG 7: Energy Access

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 7 is to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.” The good news is that progress toward SDG 7 and energy access has been made. However, we are behind schedule in fully achieving SDG 7: if we keep on the current path, roughly 660 million people still won’t have access to energy by 2030. 

Considering how energy poverty affects sustainable development goals’ achievement, it must be addressed now. And countries like Indonesia set a great example for how to work towards eliminating energy poverty in a sustainable way.

Image credits: Indoor cooking over fire (TREEAID, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Energy efficient stove (Laura Toledano, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons); Shop in Nepal during outage (Thamel Shop Power Backup by Ingmar Zahorsky is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); Solar panels in Indonesia (Jeda Villa Bali Solar by Selmat Made is licensed under CC BY 2.0); SDG 7 (Sustainable Development Goal #7: Affordable and Clean Energy by Asian Development Bank is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)