An electrician climbing up a ladder to transmission pole in Mogadishu. Photo by Feisal Omar/REUTERS
Three approaches that may help Somalia achieve equitable access to electricity by 2030
Introduction
With steady progress in sustaining peace after years of disruptions, Somalia faces a drastic disparity in access to electricity, making it difficult to alleviate abject poverty. Limited statutory instruments on affordable electricity, and chronic underinvestment in efficient electricity have placed many far behind. As of 2021, roughly 49 per cent of the urban population in Somalia were able to connect to the grid, whereas, 30 per cent of the rural population had access to electricity, according to the World Bank. In addition, the country’s electricity is solely being provided by private electricity companies, whose costs of installing and supplying power, have continued to cross a record high. The price of electricity in Somalia has remained one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. Just a kilowatt per hour for a household can cost as high as $1.00 in Somalia. In sharp contrast, Kenya’s electricity price registers $0.22 a kilowatt per hour.
These circumstances have resulted in, effects on an array of sectors, whose progress is critical for poverty reduction and inclusive growth as follows:
Health care
An effective health care plays a pivotal role in combating poverty and building prosperity through enabling access to affordable care which includes among others safe childbirth, and nutrition. This service requires affordable electricity that powers facilities through which medical care is served. That said, access to medical care has been a daunting task for many in Somalia due to high electricity costs leading to a rise in sickness and mortality among the deprived households. For instance, pregnant mothers from low-income settings, may not opt for hospitals, where the price for delivery is high, leaving many to go to informal clinics, whose risks of deformity are high. The World Bank reports nearly 621 of 100,000 women had suffered death due to pregnancy-related complications in Somalia as of 2020.
Education
An equitable and inclusive education is critical in alleviating poverty and ensuring shared prosperity, necessitating reliable electricity that can help light up schools. In Somalia facilities for learning, however, are grappling with high electricity costs that demotivate parents’ will to take their children to school, leaving many to drop out of education. Parents from deprived settings, for example, may not let their children go to school because the school’s electricity bills are higher than what many of these parents can afford for education. This barrier results in many children to stay out of school. UNICEF says 4.8 million children between the ages of 5 to 17 years are not enrolled in schools across Somalia as of 2023. This makes Somalia one of the world’s leading countries with the highest ratio of out-of-school children.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
A flourishing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in transforming poverty and fostering economic growth by creating jobs and income. Many in Somalia, however, encounter everyday realities that unaffordable electricity costs present to bankable businesses through which many youths may get decent work. For instance, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Somalia, who offer services that require cooling systems, pay a sizeable share of their income to energy bills. This, therefore, weakens profitable growth and job creation for youth, whose proportion of unemployment, continues to rise across the country. The World Bank records unemployment rate in Somalia climbed 19.3% in 2020.
What can Somalia then do to ensure access to electricity by all that is affordable?
The following three policy considerations can help Somalia tackle its electricity disparity and achieve equitable access to electricity as listed below;
- The Federal Ministry of Energy and Water Resource Management should conduct a policy review that makes possible an amendment to the price of electric power. This will help foster greater access to electricity, education, and medical care enabling many to build skills that will help create profitable incomes.
- The Federal Government of Somalia should facilitate investment schemes that may deliver clean and efficient electricity by relaxing taxes on their procurement and delivery. This will not only boost equitable access to electricity but also promotes adaptation to climate change.
- The private electricity operators and the Federal Government of Somalia should work on other initiatives that can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access electricity to maintain their growth and job creation for youth and women.
About the author
Abdi Hersi is a researcher with the Juba Institute for Climate Adaptation, a Mogadishu-based policy research institute that aims to inform policies which promote adaptation to climate change.