Impact of Adaptation Strategies to Power Outages on Business in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Does Energy Management Measure Make a Difference?

Power outages hinder economic development. Although their effects are less pronounced in developed countries, they are more severe in developing nations. Recent literature suggests, in addition to traditional strategies, the adoption of energy management measures as an adaptation strategy to power outages. This study evaluates, in the context of Sub‐Saharan Africa, the impact of adopting energy management measures while also considering traditional strategies such as backup generators. The analysis is based, on the one hand, on the 2023 World Bank Enterprise Survey dataset and, on the other hand, on the implementation of a Probit model to identify the determinants of adoption, as well as a 2SLS model to address endogeneity in impact measurement. The findings reveal that, although implementing energy management measures incurs costs, their adoption significantly increases business turnover and net income, particularly in the industrial sector. Conversely, although adopting a generator backup has a positive impact on turnover, it reduces net income in the service sector. Its impact on net income in the industrial sector is not even statistically significant. It is generally recognized in the ISO 50001 standard that, aside from optimizing energy consumption within businesses, the adoption of energy management measures also contributes to reducing the ecological footprint. By adopting this approach, businesses can enhance their resilience to power outages while simultaneously reducing their environmental impact.