Energy Demand during a Pandemic: Evidence from Ghana and Rwanda

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to economies around the world. Inresponse to this, some developing countries offered reliefs such as electricity subsidies while others did not. How didthe pandemic affect the electricity consumption of households and firms Did the utility subsidies enable aquick recovery from the pandemic And what are the distributional impacts of the utility subsidies This paperleverages unique administrative billing data on electricity consumption from two African countries, Ghana and Rwanda,with differing policy responses to the pandemic to document the demand response of households and firms to the COVID-19pandemic, and the role of utility subsidies during theperiod. Findings from the paper indicate that the pandemic led to higher consumption of electricity in both countries,albeit with variations across countries and sectors. While residential consumption soared, consumption ofnon-residential customers such as hotels and industries declined during the period. Electricity subsidies in Ghanaduring the pandemic explain the sharp increase in residential consumption. These findings highlight thepotential effects of pandemic relief measures on household welfare.