Lesson 3.2: Introduction to the access to energy pillar

16 September 2024

Lesson objectives

What is access to energy?

Remember, access to energy is the availability of sustainable, clean, reliable and modern energy services to meet basic human needs at affordable costs.
Although the definition of basic human needs may vary from one city to another, the attributes common to all cities are security, affordability, reliability and sustainability of energy supply.
The key attributes of access to energy are therefore:
- Security: The reliability and stability of the energy sources.
- Sustainability: The share of renewable energy in the energy mix.
- Affordability: The cost and willingness to pay for the energy.
- Other attributes: Health, safety, capacity, modern.

Minimum access to energy

“A household having reliable and affordable access to both clean cooking facilities and to electricity, which is enough to supply a basic bundle of energy services initially, and then an increasing level of electricity over time to reach the regional average”. “A basic bundle of energy services means, at a minimum, several lightbulbs, task lighting (such as a flashlight), phone charging and a radio.” - The International Energy Agency

What is energy poverty?

It is the lack of access to affordable, safe and sustainable energy and a ‘’direct expression of deprivation in a city’s every-day life with both context and impact experienced by individuals, households, and communities’’ (GCoM Energy Access and Poverty toolkit).
Sub-Saharan Africa, despite being critical in energy value chains outside the continent, has high levels of energy poverty, made worse by the economic impacts of COVID-19.
Energy poverty is connected to other kinds of poverty and vulnerability.

The intersection between energy poverty and gender issues is called the energy poverty and gender nexus, also referred to as gendered energy poverty (GEP).

What are the gender dynamics of energy poverty?

Overall, women are more exposed to energy poverty than men.
One of the main impacts is that women’s time is directed toward gathering biomass/wood or manually processing foods – activities that would be much more efficient with energy access.
Most of the deaths associated with air pollution from burning biomass are of women.

Safety can be compromised in the absence of electricity access, e.g. street lighting.

What is the multi-tier framework of energy access?

The MTF approach goes beyond the traditional binary measurement of energy access—for example, having or not having a connection to electricity, using or not using clean fuels in cooking.

The multi-tier framework attempts to capture the multi-dimensional nature of energy access and the vast range of technologies and sources that can provide energy access, while accounting for the wide differences in user experience.