Sierra Leone Compact - Willingness to Pay for Electricity

The objective of the study was to support MCC compact development in Sierra Leone by conducting a willingness-to-pay (WtP) survey of a representative sample of households and businesses in areas that may benefit from a potential compact investment.  This included: i) households and firms with current access to the grid but who cope with unreliable supply, and ii) households and firms that are expected to gain access to the grid through grid extension or densification. A third subpopulation, respondents that are not expected to obtain grid access but may be targeted by off-grid electrification efforts, was de-emphasized in this study in order to focus on willingness to pay for grid-supplied electricity. The study provides a comprehensive valuation of the benefits of a) new electricity connections and b) enhanced electricity supply (or reliability) for those already connected.

Beyond Compact development, this study also provides a rich dataset on energy use, perceptions, and expenditures in the study area that could be utilized for policy making or future research. These include:

• Assessment of existing energy policies and programs in the study area, including customer priorities and adaptations under the current energy situation.
• Potential for product development utilizing data on existing customer electricity consuming assets and assets customers indicated interest in purchasing in the future in the study area (including current barriers to purchasing).
• Baseline data for future research on the Compact or similar programming in the study area.
• Guidance on the implementation and the tradeoffs of various methodological approaches for eliciting willingness to pay estimates in future studies.