TITLE:
Determinants of the Access to Electricity: The Case of West African Power Pool Countries
AUTHORS:
Remy Tehero
KEYWORDS:
Electricity, Institutions, Regional integration
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.8 No.4,
April
27,
2021
ABSTRACT: The West-African electricity market remains relatively undeveloped with a low access rate. Indeed, there is a rather paradoxical context between on the one side, the availability of primary energy resources, and on the other side, its affordability and its reliability. This paper aimed at 1) analyzing the effect of economic and special planning variables as well as institutional infrastructures on the access rate; and 2) understanding how well the supra-national cooperation can contribute to improve the availability of electricity for population. For this purpose, this article proposes a panel analysis, supported by the Hsiao test, considering 14 West African countries, members of the West African Power Pool. The Hsiao test approach aimed to know if the panel structure can be accepted, and whether it should rely on a pooled or individual effect. Data used range from 2002 to 2016 and are provided by the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the World Development Indicators. Based on the Hsiao test confirming the pooled approach, the findings establish the importance of the income per capita, the efficiency of institutional framework (regulation quality and government effectiveness) as well as parameters such as population density and urban population rate. Accordingly, recommendation for positive outlook can be envisaged by progresses in economic matters for countries, the regional or supra-regional approach of markets that propose an advantage of gathering strengths, minimizing investment risks for a scale effect and pooling infrastructures.