IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v80y2015icp203-212.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying slum electrification in India and explaining local variation

Author

Listed:
  • Aklin, Michaël
  • Bayer, Patrick
  • Harish, S.P.
  • Urpelainen, Johannes

Abstract

Unreliable electricity supply is a major obstacle to economic development in countries such as India. While electricity problems in the rural areas are widely recognized, scholars have yet to analyze the situation in urban slums. Drawing on 2004–2005 survey data from the India Human Development Survey, we document the electricity situation in slums. We find that while households located in slums are less likely to have access to the electricity grid than other urban households, the situation is significantly better than in rural areas. Based on simulations, we find that a median household in a slum has 70% chance of having electricity. This number decreases to 50% for a household in a rural area and increases to 80% for households in urban areas. As to daily hours of electricity available for connected households, urban slums also fall between other urban and rural areas. Finally, we show that these conditions vary considerably by state. Slums located in states with low corruption and leftist governments have better electricity access on average than those in states suffering from corruption or that are ruled by rightist parties.

Suggested Citation

  • Aklin, Michaël & Bayer, Patrick & Harish, S.P. & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2015. "Quantifying slum electrification in India and explaining local variation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 203-212.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:203-212
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2014.11.063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544214013188
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2014.11.063?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. Jin-Li Hu & Chung-Huang Huang & Wei-Kai Chu, 2004. "Bribery, hierarchical government, and incomplete environmental enforcement," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 6(3), pages 177-196, September.
    2. Depuru, Soma Shekara Sreenadh Reddy & Wang, Lingfeng & Devabhaktuni, Vijay, 2011. "Electricity theft: Overview, issues, prevention and a smart meter based approach to control theft," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 1007-1015, February.
    3. Parikh, Priti & Chaturvedi, Sankalp & George, Gerard, 2012. "Empowering change: The effects of energy provision on individual aspirations in slum communities," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 477-485.
    4. Gavin Shatkin, 2014. "Contesting the Indian City: Global Visions and the Politics of the Local," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Min, Brian & Golden, Miriam, 2014. "Electoral cycles in electricity losses in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 619-625.
    6. Chakrabarti, Snigdha & Chakrabarti, Subhendu, 2002. "Rural electrification programme with solar energy in remote region-a case study in an island," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 33-42, January.
    7. Shohei Nakamura, 2014. "Impact of slum formalization on self-help housing construction: A case of slum notification in India," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(16), pages 3420-3444, December.
    8. Sehjpal, Ritika & Ramji, Aditya & Soni, Anmol & Kumar, Atul, 2014. "Going beyond incomes: Dimensions of cooking energy transitions in rural India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 470-477.
    9. Pachauri, Shonali & Jiang, Leiwen, 2008. "The household energy transition in India and China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 4022-4035, November.
    10. Cohen, Barney, 2006. "Urbanization in developing countries: Current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainability," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 63-80.
    11. Farsi, Mehdi & Filippini, Massimo & Pachauri, Shonali, 2007. "Fuel choices in urban Indian households," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(6), pages 757-774, December.
    12. Ghosh, Sajal & Kanjilal, Kakali, 2014. "Long-term equilibrium relationship between urbanization, energy consumption and economic activity: Empirical evidence from India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 324-331.
    13. Dal Bo, Ernesto & Rossi, Martin A., 2007. "Corruption and inefficiency: Theory and evidence from electric utilities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 939-962, June.
    14. Filippini, Massimo & Pachauri, Shonali, 2004. "Elasticities of electricity demand in urban Indian households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 429-436, February.
    15. Cole, Matthew A., 2007. "Corruption, income and the environment: An empirical analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 637-647, May.
    16. Parikh, Kirit, 2012. "Sustainable development and low carbon growth strategy for India," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 31-38.
    17. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    18. Bipasha Baruah, 2010. "Energy Services for the Urban Poor: NGO Participation in Slum Electrification in India," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 28(6), pages 1011-1027, December.
    19. Field, Erica Marie, 2005. "Property Rights and Investment in Urban Slums," Scholarly Articles 3634150, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    20. Bhattacharyya, Subhes C., 2006. "Energy access problem of the poor in India: Is rural electrification a remedy?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3387-3397, December.
    21. Joseph, Kelli L., 2010. "The politics of power: Electricity reform in India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 503-511, January.
    22. Michaël Aklin & Patrick Bayer & S. Harish & Johannes Urpelainen, 2014. "Who blames corruption for the poor enforcement of environmental laws? Survey evidence from Brazil," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 16(3), pages 241-262, July.
    23. Ouedraogo, Nadia S., 2013. "Energy consumption and human development: Evidence from a panel cointegration and error correction model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 28-41.
    24. Molla Shahadat Hossain Lipu & Taskin Jamal & Muhammad Ahad Rahman Miah, 2013. "Barriers to Energy Access in the Urban Poor Areas of Dhaka, Bangladesh: Analysis of Present Situation and Recommendation," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 3(4), pages 395-411.
    25. Erica Field, 2005. "Property Rights and Investment in Urban Slums," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(2-3), pages 279-290, 04/05.
    26. Fredriksson, Per G. & Vollebergh, Herman R. J. & Dijkgraaf, Elbert, 2004. "Corruption and energy efficiency in OECD countries: theory and evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 207-231, March.
    27. Balachandra, P., 2011. "Dynamics of rural energy access in India: An assessment," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 5556-5567.
    28. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    29. repec:oup:wbrobs:v:27:y:2010:i:1:p:33-51 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Zafu Assefa Teferi & Peter Newman, 2018. "Slum Upgrading: Can the 1.5 °C Carbon Reduction Work with SDGs in these Settlements?," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(2), pages 52-63.
    2. Kennedy, Ryan & Mahajan, Aseem & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2019. "Quality of service predicts willingness to pay for household electricity connections in rural India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 319-326.
    3. Carrasco, L.M. & Martín-Campo, F.J. & Narvarte, L. & Ortuño, M.T. & Vitoriano, B., 2016. "Design of maintenance structures for rural electrification with solar home systems. The case of the Moroccan program," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(P1), pages 47-57.
    4. Wong, Jason Chun Yu & Blankenship, Brian & Urpelainen, Johannes & Balani, Kanika & Ganesan, Karthik & Bharadwaj, Kapardhi, 2022. "Understanding electricity billing preferences in rural and urban India: Evidence from a conjoint experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    5. Richmond, Jennifer & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2019. "Electrification and appliance ownership over time: Evidence from rural India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    6. Ann-Christine Link & Yuanzao Zhu & Raphael Karutz, 2021. "Quantification of Resilience Considering Different Migration Biographies: A Case Study of Pune, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, October.
    7. Jiang, Jingjing & Ye, Bin & Liu, Junguo, 2019. "Research on the peak of CO2 emissions in the developing world: Current progress and future prospect," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 186-203.
    8. Anthony L. D'Agostino & Peter D. Lund & Johannes Urpelainen, 2016. "The business of distributed solar power: a comparative case study of centralized charging stations and solar microgrids," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Energy and Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(6), pages 640-648, November.
    9. Nutkiewicz, Alex & Jain, Rishee K. & Bardhan, Ronita, 2018. "Energy modeling of urban informal settlement redevelopment: Exploring design parameters for optimal thermal comfort in Dharavi, Mumbai, India," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 433-445.
    10. Nutkiewicz, Alex & Mastrucci, Alessio & Rao, Narasimha D. & Jain, Rishee K., 2022. "Cool roofs can mitigate cooling energy demand for informal settlement dwellers," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).

    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. Yawale, Satish Kumar & Hanaoka, Tatsuya & Kapshe, Manmohan, 2021. "Development of energy balance table for rural and urban households and evaluation of energy consumption in Indian states," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    2. Stefan Bouzarovski & Saska Petrova & Sergio Tirado-Herrero, 2014. "From Fuel Poverty to Energy Vulnerability: The Importance of Services, Needs and Practices," SPRU Working Paper Series 2014-25, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    3. Imam, M. & Jamasb, T. & Llorca, M. & Llorca, M., 2018. "Power Sector Reform and Corruption: Evidence from Electricity Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1801, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    4. Manea, Roxana Elena & Piraino, Patrizio & Viarengo, Martina, 2023. "Crime, inequality and subsidized housing: Evidence from South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    5. Arminen, Heli & Menegaki, Angeliki N., 2019. "Corruption, climate and the energy-environment-growth nexus," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 621-634.
    6. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    7. Gupta, Ridhima & Pelli, Martino, 2021. "Electrification and cooking fuel choice in rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    8. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    9. Imam, Mahmud I. & Jamasb, Tooraj & Llorca, Manuel, 2019. "Sector reforms and institutional corruption: Evidence from electricity industry in Sub-Saharan Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 532-545.
    10. Patel, Sameer & Khandelwal, Anish & Leavey, Anna & Biswas, Pratim, 2016. "A model for cost-benefit analysis of cooking fuel alternatives from a rural Indian household perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 291-302.
    11. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    12. Zi, Cao & Qian, Meng & Baozhong, Gao, 2021. "The consumption patterns and determining factors of rural household energy: A case study of Henan Province in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    13. Jamil, Faisal & Ahmad, Eatzaz, 2019. "Policy considerations for limiting electricity theft in the developing countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 452-458.
    14. Chattopadhyay, Mriduchhanda & Arimura, Toshi H. & Katayama, Hajime & Sakudo, Mari & Yokoo, Hide-Fumi, 2021. "Subjective probabilistic expectations, household air pollution, and health: Evidence from cooking fuel use patterns in West Bengal, India," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    15. Gould, Carlos F. & Schlesinger, Samuel B. & Molina, Emilio & Bejarano, M. Lorena & Valarezo, Alfredo & Jack, Darby W., 2020. "Household fuel mixes in peri-urban and rural Ecuador: Explaining the context of LPG, patterns of continued firewood use, and the challenges of induction cooking," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    16. Patricia Iyore Ajayi, 2018. "Urban Household Energy Demand in Southwest Nigeria," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 30(4), pages 410-422, December.
    17. Shohei Nakamura, 2017. "Does slum formalisation without title provision stimulate housing improvement? A case of slum declaration in Pune, India," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 54(7), pages 1715-1735, May.
    18. Dung Tien Nguyen & Thanh Quang Ngo, 2019. "Dynamics of Household-level Energy Access in Vietnam during 2002-2014," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 132-145.
    19. Ujjayant Chakravorty & Ridhima Gupta & Martino Pelli, 2022. "The economics of rural energy use in developing countries," CIRANO Working Papers 2022s-12, CIRANO.
    20. Ren, Yi-Shuai & Ma, Chao-Qun & Apergis, Nicholas & Sharp, Basil, 2021. "Responses of carbon emissions to corruption across Chinese provinces," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).

    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:energy:v:80:y:2015:i:c:p:203-212. 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.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    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.