Noteworthy observations emerge when comparing the data for the new Getting Electricity indicators with Doing Business Indicators that measure the complexity of bureaucratic processes such as Starting a Business, Registering Property and Dealing with Licenses.

First, the maximum number of procedures required to obtain an electricity connection is relatively small with 11 procedures compared to 18 for Starting a Business, 15 for Registering Property and 50 for Dealing with Construction Permits (table 3). Compared to the procedures number for other Doing Business indicators, the new indicator exhibits a much smaller standard variation in the number of procedures.

Second, the average cost for a new electricity connection is naturally much higher than the cost for starting a business, registering a property or obtaining a construction permit (table 3). While costs for these three indicators only include official processing fees and sometimes one-off taxes (like property transfer taxes), the cost for an electricity connection often includes significant material and labor costs (see section II on Data for a description of cost items covered). The average cost of an electricity connection is 2,158 percent of the income per capita, versus 42 percent for starting a company, 6 percent for registering property and 486 percent for obtaining a construction permit. The standard deviation for connection costs is highest in the low-income and lower-middle income group and average connection costs as % of income per capita across income groups show – like the other Doing Business indicators – a clear trend of decreasing costs from low to high income countries.

# _Other electricity measures_

Table 6 describes the outcome indicators used in the next section to analyze the relationship between the new electricity data and other variables of electricity sector performance, such as the share of the population connected to electricity (“electrification rate”), transmission and distribution losses as a % of output and the value lost due to electricity interruptions. In addition, we are using two perception based indicators from the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Indicator set, which capture the expert perceptions of the quality of electricity and the perceived incidence of bribe payments in connection with electricity. The sample size for all five indicators is smaller than the one for the new Getting Electricity Indicators. The sample for the electrification rate is by far the smallest with just 84 observations. As one would expect, electrification rates and the perceived quality of electricity increase with the income level of a country. Conversely for the transmission and distribution losses, the value lost of sales due to electricity interruptions, and the incidence of bribe payments; they all decrease with the income level of a country. Electrification rates range from an average of 23 percent in low-income countries to 99 percent in high income countries. The ratio of transmission and distribution losses averages 7 percent in high income countries and 20 percent in low and 18 percent in lower-middle income countries. And, the value lost due to power outages ranges from 1 percent of the sales of an average company in high income countries to 8 percent in low-income countries.

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