The rationale for setting lower standards of service in rural areas is that it is more difficult and costly to provide comparable service in rural areas at a price that would be avoidable to generally poorer rural customers.   For example, the maximum allowed number of interruptions in urban concentrated areas is 12 while the comparable figure for rural dispersed areas is 40. Normas Técnicas de Calidad de los Servicios Eléctricos Rurales, (in Spanish). Quality of Service Standards for Grid Connected Rural Service Providers.  (Unofficial English translation) (October 2008, 47 pages).

The Tanzanian law also provides more detail on sources of financing for the fund.  In 2010, the World Bank initiated efforts to provide a line of credit that would provide easier access to longer term and lower cost loans to supplement the grants provided by the Rural Electrification Fund.  

For more information about this sector, please visit Public–Private Partnerships in Energy and Power.

Tracking Number: TanzaniaRuralEnergyAct_2005_English

Output-Based agreement entered into by the World Bank and Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation. The World Bank agrees to extend a grant to assist financing a project consisting on increasing access to electricity for up to 228,571 poor households in rural towns and villages with grid access, within the context of the Universal Electricity Access Program (UEAP), by assisting the recipient in its connection fee financing program. The increased access to electricity will improve the quality of life, enhance educational services, and provide income-generating opportunities

Output-Based Aid Agreement, Colombia : Output-Based agreement entered into by the World Bank and several private utilities of the gas sector in Colombia. The World Bank grants a loan to assist financing the promotion and establishment of about 35,000 new natural gas service connections.

“The Electric Social Compensation Fund (FOSE) promotes profitable RE private investment in off-grid power in rural towns, through subsidies, as part of a social inclusion policy.

The FOSE (legislated through Law No. 27510 of 2001) intends to promote electricity access to all residential customers whose consumption is lower than 100 kWh per month and to promote private investment in rural electrification systems under 20 MW.