The determinants of electricity access in Rwanda

Abstract

Low access to electricity consumption distorts economic development, Rwanda is among the SubSaharan African countries with limited access to electricity, whereby 25.5% of the population is without access to electricity (REG, 2022). Accordingly, the determinants of electricity access in Rwanda were the focus of this thesis. The secondary data, spanning from 1990 to 2020, was used on the ARDL model variables, which were collected from the World Bank database. (WDI, 2020). On the one side, the empirical findings suggest that in the short run; GDP growth positively influence access to electricity. On the other side, the empirical findings reveal that in the long run; GDP positively influence access to electricity whereas population density negatively influence access to electricity. Since the Government of Rwanda has the target of achieving a 100% electrification rate by 2024, this thesis’ recommendations suggest the Government of Rwanda keep on increasing the growth of GDP and keep on controlling both the increase of the population density and price of electricity. Additionally, the population (consumers) are recommended to use methods such as load shifting to avoid high tariff charges in peak hours and use electric efficiency technologies to overcome power shortages