Addressing barriers to sustainable electricity services in the Tongan electricity industry

This thesis assesses challenges and opportunities for the Kingdom of Tonga to improve the sustainability of electricity services delivery. It applies the 3A energy objectives and assessment framework of energy accessibility, availability and acceptability championed by the World Energy Council, and the Capacity Building frameworks applied by the United Nations Development and Environment Programs. A modified capacity barriers and capacity building goals framework is established that has a particular focus on the often neglected perspectives of energy users. Existing literature on sustainable energy for Tonga and the PIFDS was extended through 1) field interviews of stakeholders including relevant government agencies and foreign aid donors; 2) data collection and analysis of the Tongan electricity industry; and 3) extensive surveys of residential and commercial energy users on the major island centres with diesel grids, and residential energy users in remote island communities with stand-alone Solar Home Systems (SHS). Findings highlight the importance of end-user perspectives for capacity building. For the on-grid electricity services accessibility to electricity services is hampered by relatively small electricity industries and hence significant diseconomies of scale. The availability of electricity services is affected by poor reserve margins and relatively low reliability in generation and networks - in large part due to inadequate investment and continuing demand growth. The acceptability of electricity services is challenged by the present lack of environmentally sound technologies but also, importantly, social acceptance of electricity bills, safety and regulatory arrangements. What certainly appears to be lacking is greater information and insight into energy user perspectives on the accessibility, availability and acceptability of energy service provision in order to guide sustainable development