IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/eneeco/v101y2021ics0140988321003388.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy poverty in Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Jayasinghe, Maneka
  • Selvanathan, E.A.
  • Selvanathan, Saroja

Abstract

Understanding energy poverty is fundamental to any efforts to alleviate it. This paper, using the latest (2016) Sri Lankan Household Income and Expenditure survey data, examines the incidence, intensity, inequality, and determinants of energy poverty in Sri Lanka, by constructing the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI). The MEPI is calculated using a set of seven key indicators representing multiple dimensions of energy and assigning weights by using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Sri Lankan households, on average, are experiencing a moderate level of energy poverty (with MEPI of 0.431) where the lack of access to modern cooking fuel is the largest contributor to energy poverty. Results of this study revealed notable differences in energy poverty by gender, age, ethnicity, and income group of the head of the household and by sub-national location of the household. Significant differences in inequality in energy poverty were also observed by sub-national location and income. While energy-poor households are not necessarily always income-poor, income and other socio-demographic and geographical factors are strongly associated with energy poverty in Sri Lanka. The findings of this study raise alarms for the possible adverse implications on health and education attainment of the energy-poor. Overall, the results provide valuable policy insights into one of the most neglected dimensions of the post-war development policy agenda in Sri Lanka, in particular, and other developing countries, in general.

Suggested Citation

  • Jayasinghe, Maneka & Selvanathan, E.A. & Selvanathan, Saroja, 2021. "Energy poverty in Sri Lanka," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:101:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321003388
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105450
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140988321003388
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eneco.2021.105450?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maneka Jayasinghe & Christine Smith, 2021. "Poverty Implications of Household Headship and Food Consumption Economies of Scales: A Case Study from Sri Lanka," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 157-185, May.
    2. Subramanian, Shankar & Deaton, Angus, 1996. "The Demand for Food and Calories," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 133-162, February.
    3. Setu Pelz & Shonali Pachauri & Sebastian Groh, 2018. "A critical review of modern approaches for multidimensional energy poverty measurement," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(6), November.
    4. Datt, Gaurav & Gunewardena, Dileni, 1997. "Some aspects of poverty in Sri Lanka : 1985-90," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1738, The World Bank.
    5. Maneka Jayasinghe & Shyama Ratnasiri & Christine Smith & Andreas Chai, 2018. "Domestic technology, consumption economies of scale and poverty: evidence from Sri Lanka," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(16), pages 1777-1789, April.
    6. Shimei Wu & Xinye Zheng & Chu Wei, 2017. "Measurement of inequality using household energy consumption data in rural China," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(10), pages 795-803, October.
    7. Daniele Pacifico & Felix Poege, 2017. "Estimating measures of multidimensional poverty with Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(3), pages 687-703, September.
    8. Koen Decancq & María Ana Lugo, 2013. "Weights in Multidimensional Indices of Wellbeing: An Overview," Econometric Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 7-34, January.
    9. John Hills, 2012. "Final report of the Hills Independent Fuel Poverty Review: Getting the Measure of Fuel Poverty," CASE Reports casereport72, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion, LSE.
    10. Poblete-Cazenave, Miguel & Pachauri, Shonali, 2018. "A structural model of cooking fuel choices in developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 449-463.
    11. Abbas, Khizar & Li, Shixiang & Xu, Deyi & Baz, Khan & Rakhmetova, Aigerim, 2020. "Do socioeconomic factors determine household multidimensional energy poverty? Empirical evidence from South Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    12. Alam, M.S. & Bala, B.K. & Huq, A.M.Z. & Matin, M.A., 1991. "A model for the quality of life as a function of electrical energy consumption," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 739-745.
    13. Sadath, Anver C. & Acharya, Rajesh H., 2017. "Assessing the extent and intensity of energy poverty using Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index: Empirical evidence from households in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 540-550.
    14. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "Ethnic diversity, energy poverty and the mediating role of trust: Evidence from household panel data for Australia11We thank two referees for constructive comments. This article uses unit record data ," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    15. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    16. Maneka Savithri Jayasinghe & Christine Smith & Andreas Chai & Shyama Ratnasiri, 2016. "The implications of income dependent equivalence scales for measuring poverty in Sri Lanka," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(12), pages 1300-1314, December.
    17. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2013. "The energy ladder: Theoretical myth or empirical truth? Results from a meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 504-513.
    18. Renuka Mahadevan & Maneka Jayasinghe, 2020. "Examining Multidimensional Poverty in Sri Lanka: Transitioning Through Post War Conflict," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 15-39, May.
    19. Mendoza, Celedonio B. & Cayonte, Dwane Darcy D. & Leabres, Michael S. & Manaligod, Lana Rose A., 2019. "Understanding multidimensional energy poverty in the Philippines," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    20. Gupta, Srishti & Gupta, Eshita & Sarangi, Gopal K., 2020. "Household Energy Poverty Index for India: An analysis of inter-state differences," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    21. Crentsil, Aba Obrumah & Asuman, Derek & Fenny, Ama Pokuaa, 2019. "Assessing the determinants and drivers of multidimensional energy poverty in Ghana," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    22. Ogwumike, Fidelis O. & Ozughalu, Uche M., 2016. "Analysis of energy poverty and its implications for sustainable development in Nigeria," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 273-290, June.
    23. Patrick Nussbaumer & Francesco Fuso Nerini & Ijeoma Onyeji & Mark Howells, 2013. "Global Insights Based on the Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-17, May.
    24. O'Sullivan, Kimberley C. & Howden-Chapman, Philippa L. & Fougere, Geoff, 2011. "Making the connection: The relationship between fuel poverty, electricity disconnection, and prepayment metering," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 733-741, February.
    25. Unknown, 2016. "Energy for Sustainable Development," Conference Proceedings 253270, Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies (IDSAsr).
    26. Hills, John, 2011. "Fuel poverty: the problem and its measurement," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 39270, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    27. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Smyth, Russell & Farrell, Lisa, 2020. "Fuel poverty and subjective wellbeing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    28. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    29. Abre-Rehmat Qurat-ul-Ann & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2021. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty in Pakistan: Empirical Evidence from Household Level Micro Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 211-258, May.
    30. Alkire, Sabina & Roche, José Manuel & Vaz, Ana, 2017. "Changes Over Time in Multidimensional Poverty: Methodology and Results for 34 Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 232-249.
    31. Selvanathan, Saroja & Selvanathan, E.A. & Jayasinghe, Maneka, 2021. "A new approach to analyse conditional demand: An application to Australian energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    32. Alexandru Maxim & Costică Mihai & Constantin-Marius Apostoaie & Cristian Popescu & Costel Istrate & Ionel Bostan, 2016. "Implications and Measurement of Energy Poverty across the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(5), pages 1-20, May.
    33. Zhang, Dayong & Li, Jiajia & Han, Phoumin, 2019. "A multidimensional measure of energy poverty in China and its impacts on health: An empirical study based on the China family panel studies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 72-81.
    34. Wickramasinghe, Anoja, 2011. "Energy access and transition to cleaner cooking fuels and technologies in Sri Lanka: Issues and policy limitations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7567-7574.
    35. Pachauri, S. & Mueller, A. & Kemmler, A. & Spreng, D., 2004. "On Measuring Energy Poverty in Indian Households," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(12), pages 2083-2104, December.
    36. Maneka Jayasinghe, 2019. "Dynamic trends in household poverty and inequality in Sri Lanka: do gender and ethnicity matter?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 208-223, April.
    37. Amartya Sen, 2000. "A Decade of Human Development," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 17-23.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huang, Shi-Zheng, 2022. "Do green financing and industrial structure matter for green economic recovery? Fresh empirical insights from Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 61-73.
    2. Okorie, David Iheke & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Association of energy poverty and catastrophic health expenditure," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    3. Gu, Jiafeng, 2023. "Energy poverty and government subsidies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    4. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Jiang, Yong & Narayan, Seema & Ma, Chao-Qun & Yang, Xiao-Guang, 2022. "Marketisation and rural energy poverty: Evidence from provincial panel data in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Puig Julian Mariano, 2023. "Pobreza Energética en Argentina," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4687, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    6. Lan, Jing & Khan, Sufyan Ullah & Sadiq, Muhammad & Chien, Fengsheng & Baloch, Zulfiqar Ali, 2022. "Evaluating energy poverty and its effects using multi-dimensional based DEA-like mathematical composite indicator approach: Findings from Asia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    7. Jun Zhang & Yuang He & Jing Zhang, 2022. "Energy Poverty and Depression in Rural China: Evidence from the Quantile Regression Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-21, January.
    8. Maruejols, Lucie & Höschle, Lisa & Yu, Xiaohua, 2022. "Vietnam between economic growth and ethnic divergence: A LASSO examination of income-mediated energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    9. Hui Wang & Muhammad Wasif Zafar & Shujaat Abbas & Mehmet Akif Destek, 2023. "An assessment of energy poverty in sub-Saharan Africa: the role of financial inclusion and education," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4689-4711, December.
    10. Muhammad Shafiullah & Zhilun Jiao & Muhammad Shahbaz & Kangyin Dong, 2023. "Examining energy poverty in Chinese households: An Engel curve approach," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 149-184, March.
    11. Aarakit, Sylvia Manjeri & Ntayi, Joseph M. & Wasswa, Francis & Buyinza, Faisal & Adaramola, Muyiwa S. & Ssennono, Vincent F., 2022. "The role of financial inclusion in adoption of solar photovoltaic systems: A case of Uganda," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 984-998.
    12. Drago, Carlo & Gatto, Andrea, 2023. "Gauging energy poverty in developing countries with a composite metric of electricity access," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. N. P. Dammika Padmakanthi, 2023. "Sustainable Way to Eradicate Poverty through Social Protection: The Case of Sri Lanka," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-23, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Laldjebaev, Murodbek & Hussain, Azmat, 2021. "Significance of context, metrics and datasets in assessment of multidimensional energy poverty: A case study of Tajikistan," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    2. Awan, Ashar & Bilgili, Faik & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2022. "Energy poverty trends and determinants in Pakistan: Empirical evidence from eight waves of HIES 1998–2019," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Boqiang Lin & Michael Adu Okyere, 2020. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty and Mental Health: Micro-Level Evidence from Ghana," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Wang, Yao & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Can energy poverty be alleviated by targeting the low income? Constructing a multidimensional energy poverty index in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 321(C).
    5. Ang'u, Cohen & Muthama, Nzioka John & Mutuku, Mwanthi Alexander & M’IKiugu, Mutembei Henry, 2023. "Analysis of energy poverty in Kenya and its implications for human health," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    6. Apergis, Nicholas & Polemis, Michael & Soursou, Simeoni-Eleni, 2022. "Energy poverty and education: Fresh evidence from a panel of developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    7. Ssennono, Vincent Fred & Ntayi, Joseph M. & Buyinza, Faisal & Wasswa, Francis & Aarakit, Sylvia Manjeri & Mukiza, Chris Ndatira, 2021. "Energy poverty in Uganda: Evidence from a multidimensional approach," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    8. Qurat-ul-Ann, Abre-Rehmat & Mirza, Faisal Mehmood, 2020. "Meta-analysis of empirical evidence on energy poverty: The case of developing economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    9. Omar, Md Abdullah & Hasanujzaman, Muhammad, 2021. "Multidimensional energy poverty in Bangladesh and its effect on health and education: A multilevel analysis based on household survey data," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    10. Wang, Hanjie & Maruejols, Lucie & Yu, Xiaohua, 2021. "Predicting energy poverty with combinations of remote-sensing and socioeconomic survey data in India: Evidence from machine learning," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    11. Ye, Yuxiang & Koch, Steven F., 2021. "Measuring energy poverty in South Africa based on household required energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Muhammad Shafiullah & Zhilun Jiao & Muhammad Shahbaz & Kangyin Dong, 2023. "Examining energy poverty in Chinese households: An Engel curve approach," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 149-184, March.
    13. Shahzad, Umer & Gupta, Mansi & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Rao, Amar & Chopra, Ritika, 2022. "Resolving energy poverty for social change: Research directions and agenda," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    14. Fu Wang & Hong Geng & Donglan Zha & Chaoqun Zhang, 2023. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty in China: Measurement and Spatio-Temporal Disparities Characteristics," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 45-78, August.
    15. Feeny, Simon & Trinh, Trong-Anh & Zhu, Anna, 2021. "Temperature shocks and energy poverty: Findings from Vietnam," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    16. Dogan, Eyup & Madaleno, Mara & Taskin, Dilvin, 2021. "Which households are more energy vulnerable? Energy poverty and financial inclusion in Turkey," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Nawaz, Saima, 2021. "Energy poverty, climate shocks, and health deprivations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    18. Villalobos, Carlos & Chávez, Carlos & Uribe, Adolfo, 2021. "Energy poverty measures and the identification of the energy poor: A comparison between the utilitarian and capability-based approaches in Chile," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    19. Dong, Kangyin & Ren, Xiaohang & Zhao, Jun, 2021. "How does low-carbon energy transition alleviate energy poverty in China? A nonparametric panel causality analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    20. Recep Ulucak & Ramazan Sari & Seyfettin Erdogan & Rui Alexandre Castanho, 2021. "Bibliometric Literature Analysis of a Multi-Dimensional Sustainable Development Issue: Energy Poverty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:eneeco:v:101:y:2021:i:c:s0140988321003388. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eneco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.