Electrifying Rural Tanzania. A Grid Extension and Reliability Improvement Intervention

This report presents the results of an impact evaluation and institutional analysis of the Electrifying Rural Tanzania project, which was financed through the Dutch Facility for Infrastructure Development ORIO, with co-funding by the Tanzanian government. The project addressed both low rural electrification rates and issues with urban electricity service quality in three target regions in northern and western Tanzania. The evaluation is based on a series of fieldwork activities, including baseline and follow-up surveys in 100 rural communities and three towns in 2014/15 and 2018/19. The analysis relies on a mix of methods to determine project impacts, with the quantitative part primarily using an econometric difference-in-differences approach. One of the most striking findings depicted in the report is the massive rise of solar panel use among households in both off-grid and grid-connected rural communities. As a consequence, increases in electricity source penetration rates were similar in both types of communities. This implies that impacts of the electrification intervention were rather limited to qualitative differences between grid power and off-grid solar electricity. The report also portrays a mixed picture in terms of changes in urban electricity service reliability from the rehabilitation activities supported by the project.