Powering Wellbeing: Rethinking Electricity Planning Beyond GDP in Southeast Asia

The report argues that electricity planning in Southeast Asia, specifically in Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand, and the Philippines, is overly focused on GDP and industrial growth, which masks a "well-being gap" in essential services. Using the Decent Living Standards framework, it estimates a sufficiency floor of 620–1,270 kWh per capita per year, finding that while aggregate generation often meets this threshold, poor allocation and affordability prevent basic needs from being met.

• The gap in electricity for well-being in Southeast Asia is primarily driven by issues of allocation and affordability rather than a lack of total generation capacity.
• Using the Decent Living Standards (DLS) framework, the report calculates a "Sufficiency Floor" of electricity demand—the minimum needed for households, primary healthcare, and basic education—at approximately 620–1,270 kWh per capita per year, with a central estimate of 945 kWh.
• In three of the four analyzed countries, aggregate national electricity consumption already meets or exceeds the estimated sufficiency floor, indicating that the primary problem is how electricity is distributed across sectors rather than insufficient capacity.
• GDP-centric planning and standard indicators like aggregate electrification rates hide persistent deprivation in schools, healthcare facilities, and households because distribution remains skewed toward commercial and industrial use.
• The report recommends reorienting electricity governance toward guaranteeing a sufficiency floor through Beyond GDP frameworks, targeted tariff reforms, and stronger statutory protections for essential services.

APA

NewClimate Institute (2026). Powering Wellbeing: Rethinking Electricity Planning Beyond GDP in Southeast Asia. https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/powering-wellbeing-rethinking-electricity-planning-beyond-gdp-in-southeast

Chicago

NewClimate Institute. Powering Wellbeing: Rethinking Electricity Planning Beyond GDP in Southeast Asia. 2026. https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/powering-wellbeing-rethinking-electricity-planning-beyond-gdp-in-southeast.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=NewClimate Institute |title=Powering Wellbeing: Rethinking Electricity Planning Beyond GDP in Southeast Asia |date=23 April 2026 |url=https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/powering-wellbeing-rethinking-electricity-planning-beyond-gdp-in-southeast |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{newclimateinstitute2026powering, author = {{NewClimate Institute}}, title = {{Powering Wellbeing: Rethinking Electricity Planning Beyond GDP in Southeast Asia}}, institution = {NewClimate Institute}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://newclimate.org/resources/publications/powering-wellbeing-rethinking-electricity-planning-beyond-gdp-in-southeast}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }