University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

ROBIN HOOD THEOREM: A WAY FOR ENERGY
DISTRIBUTION IN GHANA
Abstract
Emmanuel Ndzibah
Dept. of Technology, Industrial Management
University of Vaasa, P.O. Box 700, 65101 Vaasa, Finland,
626
The Robin Hood theorem borrows the essence of the strategy used by a character in a British
folklore by the same name, in providing resources for the deprived. This study aims at exploring
the same notion in a realistic way, thus giving power to the people. As a proposed theorem the
study aims at promoting strategies that could help the Energy Commission of Ghana (ECG) to
deploy protocols enabling a fair distribution of energy to every consumer.
In Ghana, people living in the rural areas are usually considered as having irregular source of
income, lack of credit and loan facilities, thus making it relatively impossible for them to afford
almost any form of renewable energy solutions. On the other hand, majority of the urban dwellers
are home and /or business owners who spend huge amounts of money on energy especially
electricity. These urban dwellers have access to aggressive credit and loan schemes which some
take advantage of for the acquisition of house, creation of business and buying of cars, just to
mention a few. Furthermore, the Robin Hood theorem helps promote social responsibility as a
means of curbing due to the high density of pollution in the urban areas. The article is thus aimed
at translating theorem into a systematic practice for the benefit of the economy of Ghana.
Keywords: Robin Hood, social responsibility, energy, distribution, Ghana.
Introduction
Rapid increase in population and the consumption patterns of people at rural areas as
well as urbanized centers have had its toll on the general resources of any given
economy. Energy seen as the bedrock of every society is needed for a growing
economy to flourish. In Ghana, many rural sectors do not have access to electricity
(see also White, 2008; Abavana, 2004 and Leite et al, 2000). The government often
spread out the hope of embarking on an extensive electrification project. However,
lack of capacity, quality planning and sound framework always turns up to become
the “Achilles´ heel” in economic development and sustainability. For those rural
areas that are reached with the national grid, lack of capacity undermines the
efficiency and reliability of systems; these are plagued with unauthorized excessive
power outages making it impossible for the citizens in these communities to be able
to utilize the full potential of the energy to increase productivity.
Over the years there had been advocacy for a solar home solution (SHS) for the rural
communities of developing countries. As thoughtful as some of these arguments and
proposed models might sound, they most often than not miss the point in their
generalization of systematically unproven panacea for the entire energy situation in