Institutional reforms and electricity access: lessons from Bangladesh and Thailand

Abstract

This paper discusses the institutional reforms for rural electrification (RE) in Thailand and Bangladesh and analyzes the impacts of private sector participation in electricity generation and tariff reforms on the poor in Thailand. The RE program in Thailand, initiated in 1977, increased electricity access for rural households from 7 % in the early '70s to 97 % by 2000. In Bangladesh the RE program, initiated in 1977 when electricity access for rural households was almost negligible, could increase the access to only 19 % of rural households by 2000. Financial resources for investment, electricity generation capacity and economic growth were identified as key factors affecting the achievements of the RE programs in the two countries. In Thailand the electrification level and average household electricity consumption were found to be unaffected by private sector participation in electricity generation and tariff reforms during the 1990s.