Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Electricity access and appliance usage are integral for transitioning into the modern economy in rural areas. Unfortunately, many households in rural India struggle to access a reliable electricity service to power electric appliances. We use household survey data from 10,249 households across the Indian states of Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh to explore drivers of electric appliance usage. Using a series of linear and nonlinear models, we find that grid-connected households use significantly more electricity to power appliances in each of our four main household appliance categories: lighting (e.g., LEDs, CFLs, etc.), cooling (e.g., fans, AC, etc.), entertainment (e.g., phones, TV, etc.), and housekeeping (e.g., refrigerators, irons, etc.). Households using alternative power sources, including solar home systems (SHSs) and mini-grids, exhibit high uptake and use of lower-level appliances in the lighting and cooling categories, but much less so in the entertainment and housekeeping categories. Grid access ensures higher electricity service availability than alternative sources. Service availability is found to be a highly significant predictor for powering appliances in all categories, but especially for more easily attainable appliances in cooling and lighting categories.