Measuring MEGA's Impact

The 75Kw micro-hydro power station under construction in Bondo, due to be commissioned in early 2012 is the first of such ventures for the Mulanje Renewable Energy Agency (MuREA). Once fully operational, the power station will be handed over to the Mulanje Electricity Generation Agency [MEGA], the organisation which BIF has been tasked with assisting as it establishes itself as a viable, socially inclusive business. The project will provide electricity to low-income communities with no prospect of electricity access according to current national infrastructure development plans. MEGA will manage the generation and distribution of electricity to 400 households, one health centre, two local schools and several local businesses.

In late November 2011, a baseline survey was carried out to provide a detailed picture of how the community is meeting its energy needs prior to electricity access from MEGA’s hydro power station. Many of the key ‘impacts’ MuREA expects to see from the provision of electricity relate to the quality of life of residents in the area. The questions were therefore designed to enable a more nuanced comparison of people’s daily lives and energy needs before and after the scheme. Information gathered ranged from estimates of the financial burden of purchasing fuels for energy services (lighting, cooking, ICTs etc) to the labour and time required in acquiring these fuels, the quality of methods used and the household members typically responsible for carrying out tasks stemming from the absence of electricity.

Key Findings:

• At the household level, the main application of the electricity supply is expected to be for lighting. A sequence of questions looked at the current methods and extent of lighting outside daylight hours: 92 per cent of those surveyed use paraffin lamps to light their homes and satisfaction with the quality and brightness of these methods was overwhelming low. Only a third of households said the light was of adequate quality for the fulfilment of household tasks. By far the most common change the people of Bondo wish to see in their lighting was connection to the grid (82 per cent) with another 18 per cent expressing a desire to have solar power.
• The three other areas where demand for electricity was especially high were for food preservation, information communication technologies and agro-processing.
• When asked in what ways they would like to change their food cooling habits, 75 per cent of respondents said they wanted a refrigerator. The most common reason given for not making this change was the lack of access to electricity in Bondo with 58 per cent giving this answer.
• Despite there being no electricity locally available, 92 per cent of those questioned with access to the appliances such as radios (100 per cent ownership) and mobile phones (75 per cent ownership) reported that they use these in their own homes. The survey sought to discover how residents in Bondo power these appliances and the financial and time burden associated with doing so. We found that people in Bondo travel an average of four hours to charge their phones and buy batteries each week.
• Finally, the study revealed just how long people in Bondo travel to reach the single maize mill in their locality to grind their maize and how great a burden this is for women. Women questioned estimated that they spent between 3 and 6 hours per day grinding their maize (including the time taken to reach the only, distant diesel run maize mill). It was clear from discussion that the residents in Bondo are desperate for better, closer access to the facilities needed to process maize. When asked what change they would wish to see in their agro-processing habits, 92 per cent of those questioned said they wished they could use an electric mill.

Summarising Energy Supply

At the end the questionnaire, a discussion with the respondent sought to summarise the energy supply of each household through the eyes of the respondent. A set of indicators was used to measure and provide an overview of the extent to which energy supply is available to a household to meet their service needs (i.e. lighting, cooking, ICT’s etc). The methodology divides energy supply into three main categories: household fuels, electricity and mechanical power. Within each category, quality of the supply available is split into 5 levels and a numerical value is assigned to each level with 0 being the lowest and 5 being the highest levels of access. For example in the category of electricity, a household with ‘no access to electricity at all’ would be at level 0, while one with ‘a reliable 240 V AC connection available for all uses’ would be classed as a level 5.

As is made clear in the graph opposite, present levels of energy access in Bondo are exceptionally low in all three categories. With no access to electricity and low average household incomes, none of the households in Bondo have exceeded the first level of access for electricity. Again, 100 per cent of the households fell into level 1 for household fuels as no homes were found to use any cooking device more sophisticated than a three-stone fire. Finally, whilst the highest average was found to be in the area of mechanical power, still, 83 per cent of the households were assigned either a level 1 or 3.

This method of evaluating energy access as an indicator of development will be repeated a year after commissioning of the station to allow a simple comparison of MEGA’s impact among the targeted households.