 Do indicators of safeguards influence off-grid solar choices? Assessing quality, affordability, and service models in KenyaElise Harrington and David Hsu Energy Policy, 2024, vol. 193, issue C Abstract: Electricity access remains out of reach for about half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in rural areas, the electricity access gap reaches almost 70%. Overcoming the electricity access gap is also spurring innovative models of distributed electrification. The considerable debate about how households will advance from off-grid solar technologies to larger appliances and grid connections has mainly focused on the economic and technological aspects of these decisions. Using a discrete choice survey experiment of rural Kenyan households, we find that quality and customer support, such as warranties, after-sale service, and local availability of appliances, are just as important or even more important than more studied techno-economic aspects, such as financing, company recognition, and technical system compatibility. These findings imply that building local capacity and mechanisms for recourse are important areas of focus for supporting off-grid solar as a means for more lasting access to electricity in rural contexts. Keywords: Electricity access; Off-grid solar; Kenya; Discrete choice experiment; Service quality (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:193:y:2024:i:c:s0301421524003161 DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114296 Access Statistics for this article Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier |
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