Program Successes: Energy

Since 1977, successes in rural electrification include:

• 70 rural electrification cooperatives established;
  
  
• 155,000 kilometers of electrical line installed;
  
  
• 6.7 million metered connections, providing service to more than 40 million people;
  
  
• Over 38,000 villages provided with electric service;
  
  
• Almost $277 million billed and collected annually from consumers;
  
  
• Over $1.4 billion invested in rural electrification, including funds from other donors and the Government. This cooperation expands the impact of USAID's support;
  
  
• System loss for the rural electrification program remains around 16%, compared to 30-35% for the national utility;
  
  
• The rural electrification program's billing and collection ratio of 96% is far higher than that of other utilities;
  
  
• 16,000 jobs created in the rural electric cooperatives;
  
  
• More than two million people employed in rural areas through electricity-run irrigation pumps, equipment and businesses. Rural businesses with electricity can generate eleven times more jobs than those without electricity.