RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN TANZANIA

The report evaluates TANESCO's rural electrification efforts, finding that while basic services like lighting and health care improved, wider economic goals—such as industrialization and deforestation reduction—were largely unmet. Technical reliability is low, particularly in diesel-supplied areas, and the program is financially unsustainable due to heavily subsidized tariffs and high operating costs. The authors recommend restructuring TANESCO's organization, revising tariff policies to reflect marginal costs, and adopting project selection criteria based on economic net present value.

• Household connection rates in electrified areas are low, averaging 11.6%, with high installation and connection costs (averaging TAS 25,000) acting as a primary barrier for low-income families.
• Electrification has failed to significantly reduce deforestation because most connected households continue to use biomass fuels for cooking, using electricity primarily for lighting and small snacks.
• The program has not significantly stimulated rural industrialization; most agro-based industries in studied areas either existed before electrification or rely on their own private power generation.
• Isolated diesel-supplied areas are consistently loss-makers for TANESCO, with revenues often covering less than 30% of fuel and lubricant costs.
• Technical reliability in diesel-supplied areas is poor, with blackouts occurring for 6% to 15% of the total time, often due to load shedding caused by capacity shortages or lack of spare parts.
• Transmission and distribution systems suffer from widespread degradation, including rotten wooden poles, vandalized stay wires, and the use of undersized conductors.
• The current uniform tariff system is financially unsustainable and creates a perverse incentive where increasing sales in rural diesel areas increases TANESCO's overall deficit.
• Donor-funded projects have sometimes been inefficient, installing oversized diesel generators or choosing diesel over more sustainable alternatives like mini-hydro or grid connection.

APA

Kjellstrom, B., Katyega, M., Kadete, H., DolfNoppen, & Mvungi, A. (1992). RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN TANZANIA. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Book-RuralElectrificationInTanznia-1992.pdf

Chicago

Kjellstrom, BjOrn, Maneno Katyega, Henry Kadete, DolfNoppen, and Abu Mvungi. RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN TANZANIA. Stockholm Environment Institute, 1992. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Book-RuralElectrificationInTanznia-1992.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kjellstrom |first1=BjOrn |last2=Katyega |first2=Maneno |last3=Kadete |first3=Henry |last4=DolfNoppen |last5=Mvungi |first5=Abu |title=RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN TANZANIA |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=1992 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Book-RuralElectrificationInTanznia-1992.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kjellstrom1992rural, author = {Kjellstrom, BjOrn and Katyega, Maneno and Kadete, Henry and DolfNoppen and Mvungi, Abu}, title = {{RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN TANZANIA}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {1992}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Book-RuralElectrificationInTanznia-1992.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }