World Bank2025-04-142025-04-142025-04-14https://hdl.handle.net/10986/43061This paper is one of a series of three that aim to help West African utilities and governments and the development financiers that support them - better understand and respond to these issues. The focus in the papers is primarily on utilities with a distribution function (that is, distribution-only utilities, transmission & distribution utilities, or vertically integrated utilities), but examples from other types of utilities (transmission only, generation & transmission) are drawn on when instructive. Though each paper’s approach is tailored to its topic, they share common features. Each paper contains: i) a stocktaking of the scope of the challenge in West African utilities, sometimes informed by new data collected for that paper; ii) conceptual frameworks to help readers deepen their understanding of the topic; and iii) real-world country examples in the form of case studies and/or utility deep dives. The insights presented in these papers draw on lessons learned from past World Bank engagement with client utilities and, in turn, have helped shape ongoing Bank operations.en-USCC BY-NC 3.0 IGOAFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGYPARTNERSHIP FOR THE GOALSECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTUTILITIESWORLD BANK GROUP OPERATIONSReportWorld Bank10.1596/43061