Poverty and Human Development Report 2009 - UNDP in Tanzania

pOVertY aND hUMaN DeVeLOpMeNt repOrt 2009
Electricity Generation and Utilisation
total generating capacity has remained steady since 2000, but capacity utilisation has increased
from less than 50% up until 2004 to 74% by 2008 (figure 8).
Figure 8: Trends in Electricity Capacity and Actual Generation (2000–2008)
Gigawatt hours of electricity
28
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Years
2005 2006 2007 2008
Actual Generation Total Generating Capacity
source: based on figures from economic survey 2007 and 2008 (Mofea, 2008a and 2009a)
electricity consumption per capita is still low, estimated at 85 kwh per year compared with 432
Kwh and 2,176 kwh for sub-saharan africa and world averages respectively. 16 the reasons for
this include:
• Poor financial
and technical performance, resulting in poor quality of supply and service,
and an inability to meet growing electricity demand;
• insufficient managerial capacity and technical skills;
• limited funding for expansion and refurbishment;
• lack of maintenance of existing facilities leading to reliability problems;
• occasional droughts which have reduced hydropower capacity in some years.
• high operating costs
despite current shortcomings, the potential of the energy sector to increase productivity and
expand employment is significant. investments to expand electrification should be prioritised,
especially in areas where the greatest returns to production and employment can be realised,
such as industry, agricultural processing and irrigation. training in key trades must also be
supported to ensure that new labour entrants, notably young people, are skilled for emerging
opportunities in an expanded energy sector.
16 world bank (2003) analysis in Mbelle, 2009.