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As part of the Urban Poor Energy Access Program, which aims to increase or improve access to electricity for the poor in urban and peri-urban areas, ESMAP funded three knowledge exchanges among Brazil, India, Jamaica, and Kenya to learn from each other’s experiences and implement best practices.

 

In Brazil, Rio LIGHT—the electricity distribution company that supplies most of Rio’s power—is taking an innovative approach to slum electrification: special police first establish safe access in the communities for service providers, who then put in place anti-theft infrastructure and undertake the regularization of unauthorized electricity connections. To help residents financially adjust to paying their electricity bills, LIGHT offers a substantial discount on the first payment and then gradually reduces the discounted amount until the customer is paying in full.

 

To learn from Brazil’s approach, in June 2015, officials from Kenya Power and the Kenya Electricity Regulatory Commission attended a three-day knowledge exchange—co-sponsored by ESMAP and LIGHT—in Rio de Janeiro. The Kenyan officials visited informal settlements such as Rio das Pedras, where LIGHT is converting illegal connections to legal ones, and Santa Marta, where LIGHT receives stable revenue from residents and has many recycling operations in place. The recycling program—called LIGHT Recicla—through which LIGHT gives credit on electric bills in exchange for a wide range of recycled materials, from cardboard and cans to scrap metal, helps customers reduce—and sometimes breakeven—their electricity bill payment, and Rio’s slums are much cleaner and healthier where the program has been implemented. 

 

“We were particularly impressed with how LIGHT combines elements like safety, utility services, and recycling into a comprehensive community engagement program that yields benefits such as a cleaner environment and employment opportunities,” said Harun Mwangi, the former head of Kenya Power’s informal settlements electrification program. “We plan to introduce the concept of an integrated set of targeted actions to Kenya Power’s management to help them integrate and brand our own activities.”

 

Jamaican regulatory authorities and the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) also hope to learn from international best practices in reducing losses in the power sector; and in June 2015, ESMAP, JPS, the Jamaican Office of Utility Regulation, and the U.S. Agency for International Development sponsored a three-day workshop in Jamaica. A diverse group of practitioners and experts from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and Deloitte as well as national regulatory agencies and electricity distribution companies from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, India, and Kenya came to share their experiences and advice.

 

On the first day of the workshop, representatives from each country provided overviews of their loss reduction programs and strategies. Participants delved deeper into selected topics on the second day of the workshop, and the third day focused on the application of lessons learned to Jamaica’s case in three tracks covering regulatory issues, technical and non-technical losses, and community and customer engagement.

 

In August 2015, multi-disciplinary teams from Kenya and Jamaica came together in Delhi, India to learn about Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL)’s slum electrification business model. TPDDL has taken an innovative approach to linking electricity access with the community’s developmental needs, reducing its power losses, theft of power, and non-payment in slums—called cluster in India—through community needs assessments and tailored services. In 2009, the company established a Special Customer Group (SCG) for slum dwellers after customer satisfaction surveys revealed specific issues and needs different from those of other customers. The SCG devised ways to ease the connection process and costs, enhance affordability, and facilitate billing and collection for cluster residents.

 

TPDDL then rolled out a number of corporate social responsibility initiatives, including establishing 10 vocational training centers and 290 women’s literacy centers. Kenyan and Jamaican officials visited several of the centers and met brand ambassadors—members from the women’s literacy centers who are employed by TPDDL to act as liaisons between the company and the community. They share information on TPDDL and its services, distribute electricity bills, and help recover late payments. The vocational centers, run by NGOs, train youth on electrician, beauty care, and computer skills. TPDDL maintains a flexible, fluid strategy that it adapts to incorporate feedback and lessons learned from brand ambassadors, NGOs that run vocational centers, and other organizations working on the ground.

 

One of the site visits took the Kenyan and Jamaican visitors to a reverse osmosis pilot project that filters pumped ground water into potable water. TPDDL customers who make consistent payments, verified through an electronic card, have access to the safe drinking water free of charge. To make bill payments easier, TPDDL recently introduced automated payment machines called ATPMs, which offer 24/7 access to an automated teller.

 

“I appreciate how TPDDL gears its business model for long-term sustainability by helping residents improve their skills and ability to take advantage of employment opportunities and entrepreneurial ventures,” says Marilyn McDonald, Community Renewal and Customer Solutions Program Manager at JPS. “In this way, they are increasing their revenue stream and billed sales—a core objective of any business—while improving community livelihoods. We plan to bring this ‘improving revenue from social intervention’ concept back to Jamaica.”

 

As a result of the knowledge exchange workshops, Kenya Power incorporated best practices into its roll-out strategy and has increased connections to over 150,000 compared to some 4,000 prior to the exchanges. Likewise, Jamaica is revising its approach to incorporate best practices learned during the workshops. JPS plans to design and implement community initiatives such as literacy centers, tutorials for children, and retail training. Through funding by USAID, LIGHT is being invited to provide additional assistance to JPS on their community engagement strategy going forward.

 

 

Learn more about the ESMAP Urban Poor Energy Access Program.