Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India

Ujjayant Chakravorty (), Martino Pelli and Beyza Ural Marchand

No 804, Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University from Department of Economics, Tufts University

Abstract: This paper estimates the returns to household income due to improved access to electricity in rural India. We examine the effect of connecting a household to the grid and the quality of electricity, defined as hours of daily supply. The analysis is based on two rounds of a representative panel of more than 10,000 households. We use the district-level density of transmission cables as instrument for the electrification status of the household. We find that a grid connection increases non-agricultural incomes of rural households by about 9 percent during the study period (1994-2005). However, a grid connection and a higher quality of electricity (in terms of fewer outages and more hours per day) increases non-agricultural incomes by about 28.6 percent in the same period.

Keywords: Electricity Supply; Quality; India; Energy and Development; Infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O12 O18 Q48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dev, nep-ene and nep-reg
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (87)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does the quality of electricity matter? Evidence from rural India (2014)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2014)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2014)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2013)
Working Paper: Does the Quality of Electricity Matter? Evidence from Rural India (2013)
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