Energy poverty is often described as the absence of an electricity connection. But having a wire connected to a home or business does not necessarily mean that people have the energy they need to live safely, work productively or build a secure future.
Electricity may be available but unreliable. A household may be connected but unable to afford its monthly bill. A clinic may have power but still experience outages that threaten medicines and essential equipment. A woman may own a small business but be unable to expand because the electricity supply is too expensive or unpredictable.
This week’s research offers a fuller understanding of the challenge. It connects energy poverty with industrial development in Africa, the cost of living in the Caribbean, growing exposure to extreme heat and the continuing struggle for clean cooking. Together, the findings show that the success of SDG 7 must be measured by what energy allows people and communities to achieve—not simply by the number of new connections installed.
Reliable Energy Is Essential to Africa’s Economic Future
A peer-reviewed study published on 27 August 2026 provides new evidence that reducing energy poverty strengthens industrial performance across Africa.
The study, New Evidence on the Impact of Energy Poverty on Industrial Performance in Africa, examines 33 African countries over the period 1996–2020. Its findings show a positive and statistically significant relationship between improved energy access and industrial growth. More reliable and accessible electricity supports manufacturing, employment, economic diversification and the broader structural transformation of African economies.
This matters because energy access is sometimes treated mainly as a household welfare issue. While electricity unquestionably improves health, education, communication and quality of life, it is also productive infrastructure. Factories, farms, workshops, digital enterprises and small businesses all depend on reliable energy.
For women entrepreneurs, the consequences are especially important. Unreliable power can increase operating costs, damage equipment, interrupt production and prevent businesses from growing. Expanding electricity access must therefore go hand in hand with investment in local enterprise, workforce development, productive equipment and access to finance.
ACEN will continue to advance the position that ending energy poverty is also an economic-development strategy. Powering communities must mean powering jobs, industry and locally owned businesses—not simply providing a connection that cannot support productive activity.
In the Caribbean, Energy Poverty Is Also an Affordability Crisis
The second edition of the Caribbean Energy Price Index, published in August 2026, presents an important regional picture of electricity costs across all 35 Caribbean territories.
The index reports that Caribbean households and businesses pay an average of approximately USD 0.35 per kilowatt-hour—about 2.1 times the global average. It also identifies a roughly fifteenfold difference between the region’s most and least expensive territories.
These figures become even more meaningful when electricity prices are adjusted for local purchasing power and the cost of living. A price that appears manageable in nominal terms may place a far heavier burden on a household in a country where incomes are lower and everyday expenses are already high.
The findings reinforce an important distinction between energy access in Africa and the Caribbean. In many African communities, the most urgent challenge remains obtaining an electricity connection. Across much of the Caribbean, the connection may already exist, but high prices, unreliable service and dependence on imported fuels continue to restrict household security and economic growth.
The index finds a general association between higher renewable-energy production and lower electricity prices. However, it also makes clear that renewable capacity alone will not automatically produce affordable power. Effective regulation, modern grids, energy efficiency, transparent procurement and cooperation among governments, utilities, regulators, businesses and consumers are all essential.
ACEN will promote a Caribbean energy transition that is judged by its effect on people’s lives. New renewable projects should ultimately reduce household energy burdens, improve reliability, strengthen regional energy security and protect communities from volatile international fuel prices.
An electricity connection cannot be considered the end of energy poverty when families still cannot afford to keep the lights on.
Explore the Caribbean Energy Price Index, H2 2026
Cooling Access Is Becoming an Urgent Public-Health Issue
As temperatures rise, access to cooling is emerging as another critical dimension of SDG 7.
A new Sustainable Energy for All resource tracks heat exposure and cooling-access risks across more than 130 countries. It estimates that more than one billion people face high risk because they lack adequate cooling, with Sub-Saharan Africa carrying the largest absolute burden. The resource also provides gender-disaggregated information and country-level analysis.
Cooling is sometimes discussed as a matter of personal comfort, but its importance extends far beyond air conditioning. Hospitals and clinics need cooling to protect medicines, equipment, patients and healthcare workers. Schools require safe learning environments. Farmers and food businesses need dependable cold storage. Families need homes that remain safe during extreme heat.
Women are particularly affected because they are often responsible for caregiving, food preparation and household management while also being highly represented in informal and small-business activity. Women working in markets, kitchens, farms, clinics and poorly ventilated buildings may face severe heat exposure without reliable electricity or adequate cooling.
ACEN will include affordable and energy-efficient cooling within its wider energy-access advocacy. This means supporting a combination of dependable electricity, passive building design, solar-powered cooling, efficient appliances and community-level planning that gives priority to the people facing the greatest health and economic risks.
The right to affordable energy must include the ability to live, work, learn and receive healthcare safely in a warming world.
Explore SEforALL’s cooling-access analysis
Clean Cooking Must Remain Affordable After the Stove Is Delivered
Recent analysis from Modern Energy Cooking Services following the 2026 High-level Political Forum raises another important concern: a clean-cooking transition can remain fragile when households depend heavily on imported fuels.
When prices rise or supplies are disrupted, families that can no longer afford a cleaner fuel may return to charcoal, firewood or other forms of biomass. This exposes women and children once again to household air pollution, time-consuming fuel collection and the loss of hours that could be spent on education, employment or family life.
The lesson is that distributing a stove is not enough. A successful clean-cooking transition requires a dependable energy supply, affordable tariffs and fuels, appropriate appliances, product standards, repair services, consumer education and financing that allows low-income households to participate.
Women must be included as more than beneficiaries. They should have meaningful roles as entrepreneurs, educators, technicians, researchers and decision-makers. Their experience can help governments and energy providers understand which solutions households will adopt, what they can afford and what support is needed for long-term use.
ACEN will support clean cooking as both a women’s health priority and an energy-security priority. We will encourage community-centered approaches that combine women-led education, electric-cooking demonstrations, appliance financing, local technical training and cooperation with utilities.
Clean cooking is not achieved when a stove is delivered. It is achieved when a household can afford to continue using a safe and reliable solution.
Women and Communities Must Help Lead the Transition
Across all four areas—industrial development, electricity affordability, cooling and clean cooking—the same principle emerges: energy solutions are more likely to succeed when the people affected are included in designing and governing them.
Communities should not be treated as passive recipients of projects developed elsewhere. They should be consulted before decisions are made, given access to clear information and included in discussions about ownership, tariffs, maintenance and long-term accountability.
Women must also be represented throughout the energy value chain. Their participation should extend from community leadership and entrepreneurship to engineering, finance, regulation, research and national policymaking.
ACEN will continue building connections among policymakers, energy professionals, investors, researchers, women’s organizations and community leaders across Africa and the Caribbean. Our purpose is to help move the conversation from promises and pilot projects toward practical solutions that are affordable, inclusive and sustainable.
The True Measure of Energy Access
This week’s evidence strengthens a central conclusion:
Ending energy poverty means building energy systems that people can afford, communities can trust, women can help lead and economies can use to create lasting opportunity.
For Africa, energy access must support industrial development, jobs and locally owned enterprise. For the Caribbean, the transition must reduce household costs and dependence on imported fuels. Across both regions, clean cooking and cooling must be recognized as essential energy services.
The next stage of SDG 7 progress must therefore be measured through more than connection numbers. We must also ask:
- Is the energy reliable?
- Can households and businesses afford it?
- Does it improve healthcare, education and safety?
- Does it support jobs and productive activity?
- Are women and communities included in leadership and decision-making?
- Can the solution continue after a pilot project or grant ends?
Infrastructure matters, but the true measure of success is what reliable energy allows people and communities to become.
Join the Conversation
Which outcome should governments prioritize when measuring energy-access progress: connections, affordability, reliability, productive use or community ownership?
ACEN welcomes policymakers, investors, utilities, researchers, women’s organizations and community leaders who are committed to advancing practical and inclusive energy solutions across Africa and the Caribbean.
African & Caribbean Energy Network
Ending Energy Poverty. Advancing SDG 7.
acenergynetwork.org
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