Factors affecting household satisfaction with electricity supply in rural India

Electricity is an important component of socio-economic development, but most studies of household electricity access focus exclusively on the presence or absence of a connection. Here we reach beyond connectivity by examining the relationship between various dimensions of the quality of electricity supply and a household's subjective satisfaction with their electricity or lighting situation. Studying the results from a survey of 8,568 households in six large, energy-poor states from northern, central and eastern India, we find that household satisfaction responds strongly to the average hours of electricity available on a typical day. The positive effect of increasing the number of hours per day by one standard deviation on satisfaction is almost as large as that of electrifying a non-electrified household. These findings underscore the importance of moving from counting electricity connections to enhancing the quality of electricity supply.