Electrifying Sub-Saharan Africa: Identifying Key Policy Factors in Electrification

Electrification is associated with economic development, population growth, and enhanced production.[1] The challenge with privatization is implementing and enforcing legislation as well as developing infrastructure that would improve electricity. There are two types of power sector reforms, structural change and privatization. Structural changes include unbundling vertically integrated sub-sections into separated transmission, generation, and distribution companies. Current examples in Sub-Saharan Africa are Uganda, Zambia, and Kenya. For this paper, privatization includes firms that are currently owned by private companies or firms that were funded by private companies. There are vast developments in electricity and privatization in Sub-Saharan Africa. The differences in electrification mean that some policies are measures that benefit privatization but could not be effective in another country. To compare key factors that impact electrification and privatization, the analysis compares the programs and policies in four nations within Sub-Saharan Africa. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the policies that increase coverage, reliability and affordability