Informing the Financing of Universal Energy Access: An Assessment of Current Financial Flows

Energy poverty is widely recognized as a major obstacle to economic and social development and poverty alleviation. A brief analysis of the current macro financial flows in the electricity and gas distribution sectors in developing countries suggests that the ‘funding gap’ is, at minimum, a factor of five less than that required for universal household access to electricity. However, data paucity remains a significant obstacle to further, more refined analysis.