Rethinking energy poverty reduction through improving electricity accessibility: A regional analysis on selected African nations

Energy poverty has evolved as one of the most concerning energy issues in Africa. Despite embodying several forms, energy poverty can largely be classified as a state of no or low access to electricity. In this aspect, since a large segment of the African population currently have no access to electricity, this study primarily assesses how energy efficiency gains influence electricity accessibility in Africa, controlling for the effects of renewable energy use, financial development, oil price shocks, and population growth. For analytical purposes, annual data of 32 African nations from 2005 to 2016 is utilized for conducting advanced econometric tests by accounting for panel data issues of slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependency. The major findings reveal that energy efficiency improvement, renewable energy transition, and financial development help in reducing energy poverty by declining the electricity inaccessibility rates of African nations. In contrast, positive oil price shocks and greater population growth rates are evidenced to aggravate the incidence of energy poverty by enhancing electricity inaccessibility rates in the long run. Furthermore, in almost all cases, the findings are heterogeneous as regional variations in the analytical outcomes are confirmed. Accordingly, relevant electricity accessibility-improving policies are suggested to the governments of the concerned African nations.