35 Table 13: Percentage of households citing reasons for not connecting to the grid

|Location|Too<br>costly|No need|Dwelling<br>unsuited|Pending|Discon‐<br>nected|Unreliable<br>service|Other|No<br>reply|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Malawi urban|37|2|4|6|0.0|—|0.1|51|
|Malawi rural|56|3|8|2|0.1|—|4|27|
|Malawi total|49|2|7|4|0.1|—|2|36|
|Nigeria urban|59|6|2|1|—|15|16|—|
|Nigeria rural|63|8|8|5|—|8|9|—|
|Nigeria total|62|7|6|4|—|10|11|—|

_Source_ : World Bank staff calculations using household survey data. _Note_ : No need = no need for electricity; dwelling unsuited = dwelling unsuited for connection to the grid; pending = application for connection pending; disconnected = disconnected for non‐payment; — = reason not among the options cited in the questionnaire.

# No spending on grid electricity

Survey questionnaires are generally not sufficiently detailed to quantify how many households do not pay for electricity. The data collected should ideally be able to separate the absence of reported household spending on electricity for legitimate reasons—such as inclusion of electricity in the rent, or in the compensation package for employment—from evasion of payment, such as theft of electricity or non‐payment without disconnection. No household survey enabled probing of this question at that level of detail.

- In Mali, Niger, and Zambia, the survey asked if the rent included electricity. In South Africa, the survey asked if rent or free rental included “electricity, water, etc.” without isolating electricity. In South Africa, the survey also asked how much the household had spent on utilities if water and electricity bills were bundled.

- In Mali and Niger, the survey asked if the household received free “water‐electricity” as part of employment compensation, without isolating electricity.

- In South Africa, the survey asked if the household received free electricity and its value. Low‐ consumption or poor households (depending on the municipality) can obtain certain amounts free of charge and pay for the rest. Therefore, answering yes to the question does not mean no payment to the utility was required. It is also possible that some households would report stolen electricity as free electricity. In Uganda and Zambia, the survey did not ask about free electricity, but the household was asked to value electricity received without making payment. Neither survey asked why free electricity was available.

- In Sierra Leone, the survey asked if the household had paid electricity bills (either bills addressed to the household or shared with others) over the past 12 months.

Asking if the household had made payment at any point over a long time period, such as 12 months in Sierra Leone, is far more likely to catch payments than asking about the past 30 days, when the household may have missed a payment, pre‐paid enough in advance, or pay less frequently than once a month. Households with missing values (missing answers) may not have answered the question despite having paid (for example, the respondent may have had trouble recalling the amount paid), but all missing values were assigned zero for the purpose of this study.

It is important to note that national household expenditure survey data cannot be used to estimate bill collection losses (percent of the total billed amount not collected by the utility) from residential consumers because no survey asks what should have been paid. It is not possible to tell from non‐zero expenditure