ASEAN Member States (AMS) fully understand the urgency of meeting energy demand in the region to improve the quality of life. This is reflected in its efforts to raise the region’s electrification ratio. At present, the ASEAN region has an aggregated electrification ratio of 78 per cent with some member states already having 100 per cent electrification. Despite the wide gaps in the ability of the AMS to provide electricity to their citizens, all ten governments have shown continuous efforts.

The high percentage of people with no access to electricity—especially those who live far away from the grid—is a major challenge for ASEAN development. In fact, out of ASEAN’s total population of 630 million in 2015, there were still 107 million who did not have access to electricity. Most of these people live in remote areas which cannot be reached by electricity grids. For those who do have access to power, the supply is often not available 24 hours a day.

The complete and original article was published in ESI Bulletin on Energy Trends and Development (Volume 10/Issue 6 • October 2017).