A successful clean energy transition involves not only meeting the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, but also realizing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. This means delivering universal electricity access around the clock for all people. Yet, there were 675 million people without access to electricity in 2021, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Even if households have access to electricity, it does not always mean they have consistent and reliable access. This indicator tracks the average duration of electricity service outages by country. In other words, the average number of hours consumers are left without electricity during each outage period. Since 2015, average outage durations have decreased from 3.2 hours per customer to 2 hours in 2020. As of 2020, outages are longest in sub-Saharan Africa, states experiencing conflict such as Iraq, and developing island countries such as Papua New Guinea. Outages are shortest in high-income countries such as the United States, Singapore and much of Europe, and also in China and Russia.
In addition to providing access to electricity, it is essential for countries to ensure that access is consistent and reliable. To this end, investments in reliability that are consistent with a 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) pathway are essential and may look different from country to country. Solutions could include short- and long-duration storage technologies, investments in grid infrastructure, demand management, or other options to balance supply and demand without emitting carbon dioxide.