Glossary

Blackout — a power cut

Energy justice — equal access to reliable, affordable electricity for all

Grid — the national network of infrastructure that delivers electricity to consumers

Kerosene — a liquid fuel, commonly used for lighting in many low-income African countries

Political participation — engagement in any politically related activities, such as voting, campaigning, attending meetings and discussing politics

Most of us take electricity for granted. If we want to turn on a light or watch TV, we simply flick a switch. If we need to charge our phone, we just plug it in. But for millions of people around the world, electricity is expensive, unreliable or even non-existent.

Electricity access in Kenya

An international team of researchers is investigating the impacts of electricity access in Kenya. With one of the highest levels of electricity access in Africa, Kenya is hailed as a success story. “The percentage of households with access to electricity has nearly doubled in the past 10 years – from around 40% in 2015 to almost 80% in 2025,” explains Dr Jennifer Brass, from Indiana University.

And Kenya is also a leader in green energy, with over 90% of this electricity coming from renewable sources, primarily geothermal and hydro power. Given the negative environmental impact of fossil fuels, this is a commendable development.

“While Kenya is to be congratulated for this progress, it is important to note that ‘access’ doesn’t necessarily mean access to the electricity grid,” says Dr Elizabeth Baldwin, from the University of Arizona. As Dr Christopher Gore, from Toronto Metropolitan University, explains, “In Kenya, national statistics don’t clearly distinguish between someone with a small solar panel powering a single lightbulb and someone whose house is connected to the grid and who has an electric cooking stove, fridge and TV.”

“Although a high percentage of households and businesses can theoretically access electricity, in practice, the supply is irregular (blackouts are very common) and many people can’t afford the cost of installing or using electricity,” explains Dr Winnie Mitullah, from the University of Nairobi. This means that most Kenyans are limited in their ability to use electricity at home and for work. “This leaves people feeling like politicians and policymakers are failing in their promise to deliver electricity for all,” says Jennifer.

Digging deeper

To understand more about the impacts of accessing electricity, the team collaborated with the Kenyan social research firm, TIFA Research Kenya, to train local research assistants to carry out household surveys and recruit participants for focus groups. Surveys asked questions such as whether the house has electricity, where it comes from (e.g., grid or solar panel), how reliable the supply is, how much electricity they use, how much it costs, how many electricity-powered appliances they own, and whether and how the occupants run a business and participate in social and political activities. “These questions allowed us to measure whether there are changes in economic, social and political aspects of life after people gain access to electricity, or differences among people with access to more or less electricity,” says Jennifer. The focus groups allowed citizens to discuss their personal experiences, providing deeper insights into the challenges associated with a lack of access to reliable, affordable electricity.

How does access to electricity impact participation in social and political activities?

The team’s previous research had suggested that increased access to electricity leads to decreased political participation. One hypothesis for this was that once people have electrical technology in their homes, they are more likely to stay at home rather than spend time in the community and engage in political life.

In the current project, the researchers considered not only a person’s access to electricity, but also the quality of their electricity supply. They also expanded their definition of ‘political participation’ to include a wider range of activities beyond voting, including new forms of digital participation.

“Our new research shows that increased electricity access does not decrease political participation, it simply changes the way in which people are politically active,” says Dr Alesha Porisky, from Northern Illinois University. Kenyans today are using electricity-facilitated technologies to become more engaged with politics, and politicians now also use social media to connect with citizens. This means Kenyan political participation is changing much as participation has changed elsewhere. “This is not just about household level action in Kenya,” says Dr Lauren MacLean, from Northeastern University. “Our data connects to the broader collective action that we are seeing elsewhere in the world, where citizens are protesting the lack of reliable electricity access.”

What are the wider impacts of electricity access?

Electricity is incredibly important for economic activity (e.g., running a business), education (e.g., lighting to study in the evenings and accessing information) and communication. This means that households and businesses with reliable access to electricity are better off than those without. “In this digital era, even poor households have phones that must be kept charged,” adds Winnie. Having electricity in the home also brings health benefits. Electric lighting and cooking stoves remove the need for candles, kerosene lanterns and wood or charcoal stoves, all of which produce poor indoor air quality which can cause breathing difficulties.

The challenge of achieving equitable access to electricity

The concept of energy justice has become globally important. “Energy justice means that all citizens have access to the same quality of affordable electricity,” says Christopher. However, achieving this is not easy. The main challenge is the cost, as it is very expensive to expand the grid infrastructure to reach everyone, especially in rural areas. It is then expensive to connect a home or business to the grid, and although the government provides subsidies for this, there is also the cost of using electricity, which is prohibitively expensive for many poor households. Households not connected to the grid often depend on small solar home systems, but many cannot afford the expensive credit payments to the private companies that run the solar schemes.

All this means that while Kenya has made great progress in the expansion of renewable electricity in recent years, the reality is that most of the population cannot yet meaningfully benefit from these advances.

Dr Elizabeth Baldwin, Dr Jennifer Brass, Dr Christopher Gore, Dr Lauren MacLean, Dr Winnie Mitullah and Dr Alesha Porisky

Research project: Investigating the social, economic and political impacts of electricity access in Kenya

Fields of research: Political science, public policy, environmental studies

Funder: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

Meet the team

Dr Elizabeth Baldwin
Associate Professor, School of Government and Public Policy, University of Arizona, USA

Fields of research: Public policy, environmental policy

I have always wanted to work in public service for the greater good. I started my graduate education in law school, but I quickly realised that I could have more impact working in policy than I could ever hope to achieve by advising a single client at a time as a lawyer. When I finished law school, I gained a master’s in public administration followed by a PhD in environmental policy. With this training, I can assess and advise policy strategies that are effective at addressing environmental problems.

There are lots of different ways to engage in policy issues. Young people should know that environmental and energy policy is a dynamic field – I am constantly learning new things about how people are working together to address policy challenges.

As an academic who spends a lot of time in my office, I really enjoyed getting out into the field and interacting with everyday Kenyans to talk about how they access electricity, what they use it for and the challenges that they experience.

Dr Jennifer Brass
Associate Professor, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, USA

Fields of research: Governance, service provision, NGOs

After college, I worked for a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Nairobi, Kenya. This experience made me consider the role of states and non-profits in the provision of social services like education, healthcare and clean water, and I wondered how people view their government when international non-state actors provide these services. So, I pursued a PhD in political science to study these questions.