Publication: Lao PDR - Power to the People : Twenty Years of National Electrification
Date
2012
ISSN
Published
2012
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
This report documents the Lao
People's Democratic Republic's success story in
rapid national electrification integrated within a broader
strategy of national and rural development. In fifteen years
(1995-2009), electricity access more than quadrupled, from
about 15 percent in 1995 to 69 percent in 2009 -- and the
program is on track to achieve the government's target
of 70 percent national coverage by 2010 year-end. This
expanded electricity access resulted in over 700,000
household connections by 2009 year-end, from about 120,000
households connected in 1995. The government of Lao PDR
(GoL) has pursued a pragmatic and purposeful approach.
Further, a series of government policy initiatives helped
steer the rapid liberalization and modernization of the
national economy, as a consequence of which the economy has
grown at an average annual rate of 6.5 percent since 2001.
The key to the successful implementation of the national
electrification program in Lao PDR has been its
institutional model of grid extension and rollout driven by
the national electricity utility, Electricite du Laos (EDL).
The government recognized from the start that state
subsidies would be required to ensure retail tariffs and the
connection fee for grid access would be affordable by poorer
segments of the population, especially as the grid s reach
extended deeper into the rural areas of the country, where
the vast majority of the population resides and incomes
typically decline. The Power to the Poor (P2P) Program
implemented by EDL is a targeted, subsidized, affordable,
and sustainable financing mechanism for connection and
indoor wiring. Lao PDR is on the threshold of graduating
from Least Developed Country status. The power sector has
been a key partner in the nation s development so far.
However, looking ahead, new demands and expectations of the
sector pose new and different challenges.
Citation
“World Bank. 2012. Lao PDR - Power to the People : Twenty Years of National Electrification. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/d452dee8-958f-5b77-a596-b62cbb1d9d55 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”