IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/eerjnl/v9y2022i2p20.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socio-Economic Effects of Load Shedding on Poor Urban Households and Small Business Enterprises in Lusaka, Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Bridget Bwalya Umar
  • Chibuye Florence Kunda-Wamuwi

Abstract

Zambia has in the recent past witnessed an increase in economic activities which has led to an increased energy demand. This increased demand for energy has overshot the hydroelectric power generating capacity. Consequently, the national power utility company, the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation (ZESCO) instituted nationwide load shedding schedules that last up to 12 hours daily. This development has potentially far reaching social and economic effects on the lives and operations of poor urban residents and small scale business enterprises (SMEs) that routinely depend on stable access to electricity. With a focus on two low income residential areas, namely Ng’ombe and Kalingalinga residential areas, this study explored how residents and SMEs of the capital city, Lusaka have been affected by the recent spate of load shedding in the city. A total of 200 households and 14 SMEs from Ng’ombe and Kalingalinga were interviewed. Results show that load shedding, which occurs daily in the two study sites has caused massive disruptions to the daily lives and operations of the households and small businesses respectively. Over time, the load shedding phenomena has gotten worse and become a major political issue, reflecting the hardships for households and businesses in Zambia. On this basis, this study recommends that the government provides subsidies on alternative energy appliances such as portable diesel solar generators for small business enterprises and more favourable electric tariff rates for business that shift their manufacturing activities to night time so as to reduce demand for electricity during peak periods.

Suggested Citation

  • Bridget Bwalya Umar & Chibuye Florence Kunda-Wamuwi, 2022. "Socio-Economic Effects of Load Shedding on Poor Urban Households and Small Business Enterprises in Lusaka, Zambia," Energy and Environment Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(2), pages 1-20, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:ibn:eerjnl:v:9:y:2022:i:2:p:20
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/eer/article/download/0/0/40395/41561
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/eer/article/view/0/40395
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Winkler, Harald & Simões, André Felipe & Rovere, Emilio Lèbre la & Alam, Mozaharul & Rahman, Atiq & Mwakasonda, Stanford, 2011. "Access and Affordability of Electricity in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 1037-1050, June.
    2. Magnani, Natalia & Vaona, Andrea, 2016. "Access to electricity and socio-economic characteristics: Panel data evidence at the country level," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 447-455.
    3. Kessides, Ioannis N., 2013. "Chaos in power: Pakistan's electricity crisis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 271-285.
    4. Sanghvi, Arun P., 1991. "Power shortages in developing countries : Impacts and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 425-440, June.
    5. Akpalu, Wisdom & Dasmani, Isaac & Aglobitse, Peter B., 2011. "Demand for cooking fuels in a developing country: To what extent do taste and preferences matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 6525-6531, October.
    6. Samboko, Paul & Chapoto, Antony & Kuteya, Auckland & Kabwe, Stephen & Mofya-Mukuka, Rhoda & Mweemba, Bruno & Munsaka, Eustensia, 2016. "The Impact of Power Rationing on Zambia's Agricultural Sector," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 245111, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    7. Gujba, Haruna & Thorne, Steve & Mulugetta, Yacob & Rai, Kavita & Sokona, Youba, 2012. "Financing low carbon energy access in Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 71-78.
    8. LaCommare, Kristina Hamachi & Eto, Joseph H., 2006. "Cost of power interruptions to electricity consumers in the United States (US)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 1845-1855.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Chengchao & Yang, Yusheng & Zhang, Yaoqi, 2012. "Rural household livelihood change, fuelwood substitution, and hilly ecosystem restoration: Evidence from China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2475-2482.
    2. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Behera, Bhagirath & Ali, Akhter, 2016. "Patterns and determinants of household use of fuels for cooking: Empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(P1), pages 93-104.
    3. Alhassan A. Karakara & Evans S. Osabuohien & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "Domestic Energy Consumption in Ghana: Deprivation versus Likelihood of Access," Working Papers 21/023, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    4. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    5. Olabisi, Michael & Tschirley, David L. & Nyange, David & Awokuse, Titus, 2019. "Energy demand substitution from biomass to imported kerosene: Evidence from Tanzania," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 243-252.
    6. Muhammad Irfan & Michael P. Cameron & Gazi Hassan, 2017. "Household Energy Elasticities in Pakistan: An Application of the LA-AIDS Model on Pooled Household Data," Working Papers in Economics 17/11, University of Waikato.
    7. Vásquez Lavin, Felipe & Barrientos, Manuel & Castillo, Álvaro & Herrera, Iván & Ponce Oliva, Roberto D., 2020. "Firewood certification programs: Key attributes and policy implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    8. Liao, Hua & Cao, Huai-Shu, 2018. "The pattern of electricity use in residential sector: The experiences from 133 economies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 515-525.
    9. Christophe Muller & Huijie Yan, 2018. "Household Fuel Use in Rural China," AMSE Working Papers 1808, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    10. Opoku, Eric Evans Osei & Kufuor, Nana Kwabena & Manu, Sylvester Adasi, 2021. "Gender, electricity access, renewable energy consumption and energy efficiency," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    11. Irfan, Muhammad & Cameron, Michael P. & Hassan, Gazi, 2018. "Household energy elasticities and policy implications for Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 633-642.
    12. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    13. Adusah-Poku, Frank & Takeuchi, Kenji, 2019. "Household energy expenditure in Ghana: A double-hurdle model approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 266-277.
    14. Alhassan A. Karakara & Evans S. Osabuohien, 2020. "Clean versus Dirty Energy: Empirical Evidence from Fuel Adoption and Usage by Households in Ghana," Working Papers 20/075, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    15. Vanschoenwinkel, Janka & Lizin, Sebastien & Swinnen, Gilbert & Azadi, Hossein & Van Passel, Steven, 2014. "Solar cooking in Senegalese villages: An application of best–worst scaling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 447-458.
    16. Barbara Kryk & Malgorzata K. Guzowska, 2023. "Assessing the Level of Energy Poverty Using a Synthetic Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index in EU Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-31, January.
    17. Fateh Belaid & Christophe Rault, 2020. "Energy Expenditure in Egypt: Empirical Evidence Based on A Quantile Regression Approach," Working Papers 1446, Economic Research Forum, revised 20 Dec 2020.
    18. Ovikuomagbe Oyedele, 2023. "Determinants of Household Cooking Energy Choice: Are Such Choices Influenced by Health Outcomes?," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(2), pages 553-564, March.
    19. Jamil, Muhammad Hamza & Ullah, Kafait & Saleem, Noor & Abbas, Faisal & Khalid, Hassan Abdullah, 2022. "Did the restructuring of the electricity generation sector increase social welfare in Pakistan?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    20. Moses Kirimi & James K. Gitau & Ruth Mendum & Catherine Muthuri & Mary Njenga, 2023. "Cleaner Cooking with Charcoal in Kibera Informal Settlement in Nairobi, Kenya, and Its Implications for Livelihoods and the Environment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-17, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:eerjnl:v:9:y:2022:i:2:p:20. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.