Grid - Connection Costs
The connection costs of individual customers to the grid consists of the costs for the electric meter and the installation costs. In addition to that the customers have to finance the inhouse wiring. Below are the current connection costs from different countries:
Bolivia:
- electric meter: around 200 Bs = 22 €
- installation costs: 400-600 Bs = 44 - 66 €
total connection costs: 70-90 €
The in-house wiring costs additional 160 Bs = 20 €. The big utilities do not charge for the electric meter but for the installation costs.
Ethiopia
The average connection cost for customers living near the grid (usually less than 150 feet) ranges from US$50 to US$100 per household.
Loan schemes to make connection costs affordable
One way to make the connection to the grid more affordable is to provide people with the necessary microcredit to pay for the cost of connection. When utilities grant concessional loans to customers the pace of connection generally increases. Utilities normaly use two to five-year loans, either with low interests or interest-free. Unfortunately, the concession of those loans consume considerable amounts of working capital, which needed to be backboned by other sources.
