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PRWP

Reproducibility package for Decentralized Markets for Electricity in Low-Income Countries

2025
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Reference ID
RR_TGO_2025_266
Author(s)
Megan Lang
Collections
World Bank Policy Research Working Papers
Metadata
JSON
Created on
Jan 28, 2025
Last modified
Jan 28, 2025
  • Overview
  • Reproducibility Package
  • Description
  • Scope and coverage
  • Disclaimer
  • Access and rights
  • Contacts
  • Information on metadata

    • Overview

    Abstract

    Governments in low-income countries are increasingly integrating off-grid electricity provision into national electrification strategies, creating novel, decentralized markets for electricity. I study a highly decentralized product that plays an important role in energy access: pay as you go (PAYGo) solar home systems. Unlike grid electrification, PAYGo solar features low upfront costs but relatively high usage costs. To what extent are high intensive margin prices limiting the adoption of solar home systems? In 2019, the Togolese government implemented a large subsidy reducing usage costs by 17.8%-41.7%, while upfront costs remained constant. I estimate that the subsidy dramatically increased adoption, with the largest effects occurring for the smallest systems (240% increase). I go on to develop a theoretical framework that shows that the effects of such subsidies are uncertain due to the unique cost structure of decentralized solar electricity. My results highlight the importance of use prices in the electrification decisions of low-income households.

    Reproducibility Package

    Scripts
    Get Reproducibility Package
    Title
    Reproducibility package for Decentralized Markets for Electricity in Low-Income Countries
    Date
    2025-01
    Dependencies
    All dependencies are included in the file renv.lock.
    Notes
    Computational reproducibility verified by the Development Impact (DIME) Analytics team, World Bank.
    Source code repository
    Repository name URI
    Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) https://reproducibility.worldbank.org
    Software
    Name
    R
    Version
    4.3.2

    Reproducibility

    Technology environment

    Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
    • OS: Windows 10 Enterprise, version 22H2
    • Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6132 CPU @ 2.60GHz 2.60 GHz (2 processors)
    • Memory available: 128 GB
    • Software version: R 4.3.2
    Technology requirements

    ~ 30 minutes
    Reproduction instructions

    Users will not be able to fully reproduce the results of the study as most of the data is restricted. The author accessed the data through a data sharing agreement with BBOXX Ltd.
    The reproducibility package contains partial data and will not execute fully without access to the complete data files. However, it includes the code and outputs to demonstrate the process followed by the authors to achieve their findings.

    Data

    Datasets
    Name
    BBOXX Ltd Administrative Data
    Note
    Source: BBOXX Ltd Filenames: "Integration_Dates.csv", "cust_prod.csv", "cuts.csv", "alt_dr.csv", "phases.cvs" This data contains customer-level data on system size adopted, date of adoption, the prefecture where the customer lived at the time of adoption, and the dates that each prefecture became eligible for the subsidy. See README for more details.
    Access policy
    Data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package.
    Data URL
    https://www.bboxx.com/
    Name
    Harmonized Survey on Households Living Standards (2018-2019)
    Note
    Source: World Bank Microdata Library Located at: \Data\TGO_2018_EHCVM_v02_M_Stata\ Users must log in, download the files mentioned in the README, and save them in the folder 'TGO_2018_EHCVM_v02_M_Stata'
    Access policy
    Data is publicly available but cannot be redistributed in the reproducibility package.
    Data URL
    https://doi.org/10.48529/ww9z-d865
    Data statement

    Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file.

    Description

    Output
    Type
    Working Paper
    Title
    Decentralized Markets for Electricity in Low-Income Countries
    Authors
    Megan Lang
    Description
    Policy Research Working Paper (PRWP)
    Authors
    Author Affiliation Email
    Megan Lang World Bank mlang@worldbank.org
    Date of production

    2025-01

    Scope and coverage

    Geographic locations
    Location Code
    Togo TGO
    Keywords
    electrification decentralized electricity provision renewable energy
    Topics
    ID Topic Vocabulary Vocabulary URI
    O2 Development Planning and Policy Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    Q2 Renewable Resources and Conservation Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
    Q4 Energy Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)

    Disclaimer

    Disclaimer

    The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/the World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.

    Access and rights

    License
    Name URI
    Modified BSD3 https://opensource.org/license/bsd-3-clause/

    Contacts

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Megan Lang World Bank mlang@worldbank.org
    Reproducibility WBG World Bank reproducibility@worldbank.org

    Information on metadata

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Reproducibility WBG DIME World Bank - Development Impact Department Verification and preparation of metadata
    Date of Production

    2025-01-28
    Document version

    1
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