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When do rms generate? Evidence on in-house electricity supply in Africa
J. Steinbuks a,, V. Foster b
a Electricity Policy Research Group, University of Cambridge, Austin Robinson Building, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DD, UKb The World Bank, 1818 H Street, Washington, D.C., 20433, USA
a b s t r a c ta r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 17 August 2008
Received in revised form 2 September 2009
Accepted 19 October 2009Available online 31 October 2009
JEL classication:
O13
Q41
Keywords:
Generators
Ownership
Electricity
Reliability
Africa
This paper attempts to identify the underlying causes and costs of own generation of electric power in Africa.
Rigorous empirical analysis of 8483 currently operating rms in 25 African countries shows that the
prevalence of own generation would remain high (at around 20%) even if power supplies were perfectly
reliable, suggesting that other factors such as rms' size, emergency back-up and export regulations play a
critical role in the decision to own a generator. The costs of own-generation are about three times as high as
the price of purchasing (subsidized) electricity from the public grid. However, because these generators only
operate a small fraction of the time, they do not greatly affect the overall average cost of power to industry.
The benets of generator ownership are also substantial. Firms with their own generators report a value of
lost load of less than US$50 per hour, compared with more than US$150 per hour for those without.
Nevertheless, when costs and benets are considered side by side, the balance is not found to be signicantly
positive.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The performance of Africa's power supply sector on the continent is
woefully unsatisfactory. Most of the continent's power companies are
unreliable sources of supply, inefcient users of generating capacity,
decient in maintenance, erratic in the procurement of spare parts, and
unable to staunch losses in transmission and distribution. They also have
failed to provide adequate electricity services to the majority of the
region's population, especially to rural communities, the urban poor, and
small and medium enterprises.
In response to the endemic unreliability of Africa's national electric
power utilities, self-generated electricity has become an increasingly
important source of power. Many end users of electricity, from
households to large enterprises, now generate their own power by
operating small to medium-sized plants with capacities ranging from
1 MW to about 700 MW (Karekezi and Kimani, 2002). For small-scale
enterprises, protection against erratic supply from public utilities often
means installing small (less than 5 MW) thermal generators.
Overall, owngeneration byrms which has beenon therise inrecent
years accounts for about 6% of installed generation capacity in Sub-
Saharan Africa (equivalent to at least 4000 MW of installed capacity).
However, this share doubles to around 12% in the low-income countries,
the post-conict countries, and more generally on the Western side of the
continent. In a handful of countries (including Democratic Republic of
Congo and Nigeria) own generation represents more than20% of capacity
(Foster and Steinbuks, 2009).
These adjustments are not without cost, however. Self-generated
electricity is generally more expensive than electricity from the public
grid, as we shall see, which limits its potential as a permanent substitute
for unreliable public supply. Because it adds to the capital and operating
costs of doing business, in-house generation affects the range of
investment available to budding entrepreneurs, raises production
costs, lowers the competitiveness of local products, and blocks the
achievement of economies of scale.1
Energy Economics 32 (2010) 505514
The authors would like to thank Rob Mills, Mohua Mukherjee, David Newbery, and
two anonymous referees for helpful comments. They appreciate funding and other
support from (in alphabetical order): the African Union, the Agence Francaise de
Dveloppement, the European Union, the New Economic Partnership for Africa's
Development, the PublicPrivate Infrastructure Advisory Facility, the U.K. Department
for International Development, and the U.K. Engineering and Physical Science Research
Council (Grant Supergen Flexnet). This paper was commissioned as a part of the Africa
Infrastructure Country Diagnostic project (www.infrastructureafrica.org). The views
represented in this paper do notnecessarily correspond to theviewsof theWorldBank.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1223 335283; fax: +44 1223 335475.
E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Steinbuks).
1 These limitations of own-generation do not mean that there are no gains to be had
from thedecentralizationof power generation.Butin noAfrican countryhavethe legal and
institutional conditions for decentralized power generation yet reached the point where
decentralization can provide an alternative to unreliable supply from monopolistic public
providers or to theuse ofexpensive generators at thermlevel.Some 20 African countries
are currently initiating some form of power sector reform. Although most are still in the
initial phases of privatization and restructuring, the contemplated changes reect a
profoundquestioningof theprinciplesthathavegoverned thesectorsincetheearly1960s.
Some countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt and South Africa, have had
unbundled power sectors for a long time and are now thinking of introducing private
participation. Cte d'Ivoire and Ghana introduced reforms (privatization and restructur-
ing) in the early and mid-1990s, respectively (Karekezi and Mutiso, 1999).
0140-9883/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.eneco.2009.10.012
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Energy Economics
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / e n e c o
mailto:[email protected]://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2009.10.012http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01409883http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01409883http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eneco.2009.10.012mailto:[email protected]7/31/2019 Stein Bucks
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This paper attempts to identify the underlying causes and costs of
own generation of electric power in Africa. Our analysis is based on
the World Bank's Enterprise Survey Database, which captures
business perceptions of the obstacles to enterprise growth for 8483
currently operating rms in 25 African countries sampled between
2002 and 2006. Rigorous empirical analysis shows that unreliable
public power supplies is far from being the only or even the largest
factor driving generator ownership. Firm characteristics have a major
in
uence, and in particular, the probability owning a generatordoubles in large rms relative to small ones. Our model predicts that
the prevalence of own generation would remain high (at around 20%)
even if power supplies were perfectly reliable, suggesting that other
factors such as emergency back-up and export regulations play a
critical role in the decision to own a generator.
Thecosts of own-generationare high, drivenmainly by thevariable
cost of diesel fuel. They fall in the range US$0.300.70 per kilowatt-
hour; about three times as high as thepriceof purchasing (subsidized)
electricity from the public grid.2 However, since these generators only
operate a small fraction of the time, they do not greatly affect the
overall average cost of power to industry.3 The benets of generator
ownership are also substantial. Considering only lost sales resulting
from periods of poweroutages,rmswith their owngenerators report
a value of lost load of less than US$50 per hour, compared with more
than US$150 per hour for those without. Nevertheless, according to
our conservative estimates, the balance between the costs and the
benets of own generation is not found signicantly positive. This is
likelybecause theanalysisis only able to capture onedimension of the
benets of generator ownership namely reduction in lost sales.
The rest of this paper is structured as follows. The second section
reviews existing literature on unreliable power supply. The third
section describes the data used in the empirical analysis. The fourth
section analyzes the effect of power outages and rm characteristics
on the decision to generate electricity in-house. The fth section
illustrates the results of costbenet analysis of own generation. The
nal section concludes and presents policy recommendations.
2. The economic literature on unreliable power
It is fairly settled in the literature that unreliable power supply
results in welfare losses (see Kessides, 1993 and references therein).
But the empirical research on the economic costs of power outages
and own-generation in developing countries remains limited, owing
to the lack of appropriate microeconomic panel data that could be
used to infer rms' and households' response to poor provision of
electricity supply.4 Only two studies have recently been done on this
subject in Africa. Adenikinju (2005) analyzed the economic cost of
power outages in Nigeria. Using the revealed preference approach on
business survey data (Bental and Ravid, 1982; Caves et al., 1992;
Beenstock et al., 1997), Adenikinju estimated the marginal cost of
power outages to be in the range of $0.94 to $3.13 per kWh of lost
electricity. Given the poor state of electricity supply in Nigeria
Adenikinju (2005) concluded that power outages imposed signicantcosts on business. Small-scale operators were found to be most
heavily affected by the infrastructure failures.5
Reinikka and Svensson (2002) analyzed the impact of poor provision
of public capital goods on rm performance in Uganda. Using a discrete
choice model on business survey data, the authors predicted that
unreliable powersupplycausesrms to substitute complementary capital
(for backup generators) for decient public services. Estimating invest-
ment equations on the same data, they found that poor complementary
public capital signicantly reduced private investment.
Reconciling the results of the two studies is difcult. Both rely on
limited datasetsfrom businesssurveysdone in a single country.Both useonly a smallnumberof factors amongthe many thatrmsmight consider
in choosingto generatetheir ownpower. Neitheraccounts foreffectsthat
may change the provision of power supply. And the estimated marginal
costs of electricity and effects of unreliable power supply on rms'
investment may be biased because of the failure to address the possible
endogeneity in choice of generator, provision of electricity supply, and
other observed explanatory variables, such as rms' protability and
access to nance, and the country's industrial structure.
This paper combines the advantages of cross-country data analysis
with microeconomic analysis of business survey data. Use of a cross-
country dataset canhelpto identify theeffectsthat affectthe provisionof
power supply, and to some extent, changes in the industrial structure.
Microeconomicdata canbe used to inferrms'and households' response
to provision of electricity supply. Because our study relies on cross-
sectional data, the bias in estimates cannot be fully avoided. However,
cross-country comparisons will still be valid,given the one-dimensional
direction of bias.
3. The data on self-generated electricity
Ourmaindata source is theWorldBank'sEnterprise Survey Database,
which captures business perceptions of the obstacles to enterprise
growth, the relative importance of various constraints to increasing
employment and productivity, and the effects of a country's investment
climate on the international competitiveness its rms.6 Our database
comprises 8483 currently operating rms in 25 North and Sub-Saharan
African countries sampled from the universe of registered businesses
between 2002 and 2006. Though data on all African countries were not
available at the time of research, the available data are representative ofthe continent. The surveys are based on a stratied random sampling
methodology. Because in most countries the number of small and
mediumenterprises isfar greater than thenumberof largerms,surveys
generally oversample large establishments. The main advantage of the
Enterprise Survey Database is that it provides both managers' opinions
concerning the reliability of power supplies and the accounting data
needed for structural microeconomic analysis. Table 1 (Appendix A)
presents the summary statistics of the variables used in the empirical
analysis.
The data from the World Bank's Enterprise Survey Database are
complemented by engineering data from generator manufacturers
and other sector sources that help to capture the cost structure of
generating power on-site. For example, the enterprise survey does not
ask for information on generating capacity, which is estimated at rmlevel by taking the ratio of the deated generator's acquisition cost to
the average capital cost per kW of the generator's capacity (assuming
thermal generation). The data for the capital cost per kW of installed
capacity comes from the World Bank's Energy and Water Department
(2005). The GDP deator data comes from the World Bank's World
Development Indicators database.
4. What drives rms to generate their own power?
To evaluate the extent to which reliability of power supply and
rm characteristics affect the decision to generate electricity in-house,
2 The operating costs of own-generation are even higher in countries with
unreliable diesel and gasoline supply. During fuel supply shortages rms are either
unable to run their generators or have to run them at very high operating costs.3 Operating costs of running a generator have a signicant effect on average cost of
power to the industry in a few countries (e.g. Democratic Republic of Congo and
Nigeria), where outages are very frequent and sometimes of long duration. Some
commercial companies in these countries (e.g. Nestle Nig. Plc. in Nigeria) run entirely
on autogeneration.4 Cross-country aggregate data analysis, widely used in the development economics
literature, cannot avoid simultaneity between poor infrastructure and welfare.5 In earlier work Lee and Anas (1992) also found that poor infrastructure had a
negative effect on small enterprises in Nigeria.
6 Detailed information on the World Bank's Enterprise Survey Database can be
found at http://www.enterprisesurveys.org.
506 J. Steinbuks, V. Foster / Energy Economics 32 (2010) 505514
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we employed two modelling approaches. The rst approach follows
the binary choice model ofReinikka and Svensson (2002) is based on
the following stochastic specication:
PrYi = 1 = 1xi;
2Zi
!; 1
where Yi is the probability that rm i invests in a generator, is the
standard normal distribution function, xi is the frequency of power
outages, Zi is a vector of controls, including country and rm
characteristics, and is a standard deviation of normally distributed
error term. The second approach employs censored regression
approach:
PrYi N 0 = 1 1xi;
2Zi
!; 2
where Yi is the logarithm of the capacity ofrm's i generator (left-
censored at zero), and the explanatory variables are the same as in
Eq. (1).
Eq. (1) is estimated using the probit method. Eq. (2) is estimated
using the tobit method. Selected estimated parameters are presented
in Table 1, with the complete set appearing in Appendix A, Tables 2
and 3. Reliability of power supply and various rm characteristics
age, size (as measured by number of employees), and export
orientation all have a signicant positive impact on the estimated
probability of investing in generating capacity and the size of the
generator.7
Theprobability that armwill own a generator can beexpressedas a
function of the reliability of power supply and the rm's size. The
probabilityofnding a generator on thepremisesincreasesby nearly 50%
as one moves from small rms (less than 10 employees) to very large
ones (more than 500 employees) (Fig. 1). The probability of having agenerator remains high (about 20%) even where power supply is
completely reliable.8 For largerms theprobability of havinga generator
in the absence of power outages is even higher (about 50%).
The evidence thus suggests that both generator ownership and its
capacity are greatly affected by rm characteristics, such as size, sector,
corporatestructure, andexport orientation. Largermsthatoperate24 h
per day are more likely than smaller rms to install backup generation
capacity compared to smallerrms, which operate only during daylight
hours and therefore are less affected by evening blackouts. Mining rms
tend to require ownpowerto keep elevators, airpumps, andothersafety
devicesfullyoperational regardless of the powersupply frompublic grid.
Petroleum rms have very sensitive and delicate equipment that must
be protected from damage stemming from power outages. Exporters
may need to generate their own power to meet ISO standards (e.g.,
relating to cold chains). Informal rms may be unable to accumulate
signicant generating capacity because of security concerns, which may
include police raids, unstable land or lease tenure, and other factors.
The composite effect of size and reliability of power supply is
generally not signicant across rms, except for small rms and
microenterprises (Table 1). The signicant negative coefcient on the
product of small rms and large power outages indicates that small
rms suffer the most from unreliable power supply, because they lack
the resources to invest in own-generation.9
5. The costs and benets of own-generation
5.1. Costs
We use the revealed preference approach to analyze the economic
costs of own-generation.10 This approach is based on the presumption
that rational, prot-maximizingrmswill insurethemselves againstthe
risk of frequent power outages. Because insurance contracts for
unreliable power supply are not available in developing countries, the
only way to minimize losses is to acquirebackup generating power. The
rm's problem is to choose the optimal amount of backup power that
minimizes the sunk costs incurred by acquiring generation capacity as
well as the damage that unsupplied power would cause.
A competitive, risk-neutralrm will maximize expected prots by
equating at the margin the expected cost of generating a kWh of its
own power to the expected gain due to that kWh. That gain consistsofthe continued production (even if partial) that the self-generated
electricity makes possible, and the avoided damage to equipment that
would have been caused by a power failure. Under prot-maximizing
conditions, the expected marginal gain from a self-generated kWh is
also the expected marginal loss from the kWh that is not supplied by
the utility. Therefore the marginal cost of self-generated power may
serve as an estimate for the marginal cost of an outage.
Table 1
Probit and Tobit regression results.
Probit regression
(generator ownership)
Tobit regression
(generator capacity)
Variable Estimated
coefcient
Elasticity P-value Estimated
coefcient
(Elasticity)
P-value
Days of power
outages (log)
0.06 0.02 0.01 0.23 0.05
Age (log) 0.06 0.02 0.03 0.33 0.02
Employment (log) 0.37 0.12 0.00 1.74 0.00
PKM (log) 0.001 0.00 0.31 0.001 0.69
Size1 lost days (log) 0.14 0.04 0.00 0.39 0.03
Size2 lost days (log) 0.04 0.01 0.14 0.14 0.24
Size4 lost days (log) 0.001 0.00 0.99 0.01 0.96
Size5 lost days (log) 0.06 0.02 0.05 0.22 0.15
Exporter 0.29 0.10 0.00 0.56 0.07
statistically signicant at 1 percent level; statistically signicant at 5 percent
level; statistically signicant at 10 percent level.
7 The price-cost margin (PKM) variable was not statistically signicant, possibly
because of simultaneity bias between rm's protability and decision to own a
generator.8 This nding is consistent with rms' insurance behavior. Large and risk-averse
rms incurring high marginal costs from power outages will invest in back-up
generator even if current power supply is completely reliable to keep the option value
of insurance from future outages.
Fig. 1. Probability that a rm will own a generator, by number of employees.
9 Further discussion of this subject becomes complicated because access to
electricity and access to nance are frequently simultaneous. For example, in Nigeria
small rms may lack internal funds to obtain a generator, and owning a generator may
be a prerequisite to secure loan from the bank.10 See earlier citations to the revealed preference approach in the literature review
section of this paper.
507J. Steinbuks, V. Foster / Energy Economics 32 (2010) 505514
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The cost to the rm of generating its own power consists of two
elements. The rst is the yearly capacity cost of the generator and other
capital outlays. Following earlier literature, that cost will be denoted by b
(Kg), where Kg is the generator's capacity measured in kW. The second is
thevariable cost perkWh-chiey fuel cost, which is practically constant.11
If thegeneratoris used to capacity during power cuts, thevariable cost per
year will then be v H Kg, wherev isthe fuel costper kWh, and H isthe
expected total duration of outages, measured in hours per year. The total
expected yearly cost per kW of backup generating power is then
CKg = bKg + vHKg: 3
The expected respective marginal cost is
CKg = b
Kg + vH 4
and the expected marginal cost of a kWh generated is simply given by
CKgkWh =
bKg
H+ v: 5
Applying Eq. (5) to the enterprise survey data allows us (using
reasonable assumptions) to estimate the (marginal) cost of own-
generation from observed information about the acquisition and running
costs of in-house generating capacity, and from data on the frequency ofpower outages.12 For these purposes, values for b, H, and v must be
obtained.
The operating cost, v, is calculated as a product of the unit cost of
fuel and the generator's fuel efciency (fuel consumption per kWh).
Assuming that most rms in the enterprise survey dataset rely on
thermal generation, theunit cost of fuel is approximated by an average
price per liter of diesel fuel.13 Fuel efciency data was obtained from
the Web sites of leading manufacturers of generators.14
The unit capital cost of self-generated electricity, b, depends on
price schedules for generators, tax and depreciation rules, and the
interest rates. Original price schedules (in national currencies) and
data on year of acquisition are reported in the enterprise surveys. We
converted the original price schedules into current U.S. dollars. First,
we de
ated the price schedules, applying the corresponding value ofthe country's GDP deator and then converting into dollars at the
prevailing exchange rate. 15 We then obtained the capital cost per kW
of installed capacity (in 2004 dollars, assumingthermal generation, no
tax rules, and an internal rate of return of 10%)16 using the data from
the World Bank's Energy and Water Department (2005).
Our data on the duration of power outages, H, came from the
enterprise surveys. Data on the average duration of power outages
were generally not available. We assumed a value of 8 h per day. 17
In most of the countries of Africa, the average cost of generating
electricity in-house is signicantly higher than the cost of electricity
from the public grid (Table 2). This nding reects the differences in
efciency between the small backup generators used by commercial
rms and the large plants that produce electricity for the public grid.
The major exceptions are the countries in which fuel is heavily
subsidized (Algeria, Arab Republic of Egypt, and Eritrea), where the
average cost of self-generated electricity is close to the cost of the
electricity from the public grid.
Table 2
The comparative costs of self generated and publicly supplied electricity, and the effect of own generation on the marginal cost of electricity, in Africa.
Country Average variable cost
of own electricity (A)
Average capital cost of
own electricity (B)
Average total cost of own
electricity (C=A+B)
Price of kWh purchased
from public grid (D)
Weighted average cost of
electricity (E =C+(1) D)
Algeria 0.04 0.11 0.15 0.03c 0.05
Benin 0.36 0.10 0.46 0.12c 0.27
Burkina Fasoa 0.42 0.32 0.74 0.21c 0.23
Cameroona 0.41 0.04 0.46 0.12c 0.16
Cape Verdea 0.46 0.04 0.50 0.17c 0.26
Egypt, Arab Rep. 0.04 0.26 0.30 0.04c
0.12Eritrea 0.11 0.03 0.13 0.11 0.12
Kenya 0.24 0.06 0.29 0.10 0.14
Madagascar 0.31 0.08 0.39
Malawi 0.46 0.03 0.50 0.05c 0.09
Mali 0.26 0.26 0.52 0.17 0.21
Mauritius 0.26 0.35 0.61 0.14c 0.25
Morocco 0.31 0.32 0.62 0.08c 0.15
Nigera 0.36 0.04 0.41 0.23c 0.26
Senegal 0.25 0.09 0.34 0.16 0.18
Senegalb 0.28 0.40 0.68 0.16 0.30
South Africa 0.18 0.36 0.54 0.04 0.05
Tanzania 0.25 0.04 0.29 0.09 0.13
Uganda 0.35 0.09 0.44 0.09 0.14
Zambia 0.27 0.18 0.45 0.04 0.06
Share of total electricity consumption coming from own generation.
= data not available.
a Tourism industry (hotels and restaurants sector) only.b Survey of informal sector.c Data not reported in the enterprise surveys (obtained from the public utilities).
11 This measure does not account for other variable costs, such as rental costs of
generator house, maintenance, wages, and salaries. Omission of these costs does not
signicantly bias our estimates, because they are likely to be substantial for rms with
huge back-up capacity. In our dataset among 1352 rms that owned electric
generators, only 2 rms had large (1 MW or larger) back-up capacity.12 This measure of marginal cost does not account for incomplete backup that may
result in additional losses such as destruction of raw materials and damage to
equipment. These losses are inversely related to the percentage of backup and the
reliability of the rm's backup equipment.
13 The fuel prices came from GTZ International Fuel Prices 2005.14 These manufacturers included Wrtsil and Cummins.15 Nominal exchange rates were adjusted for price volatility using the World Bank
Atlas method.16 The results from the enterprise surveys show that most rms in Africa rely on
internal rather than external nancing. Therefore, given limited access to nance, the
internal rate of return is preferred to interest rates.17 Other assumptions about the duration of power outages were considered,
including 4 and 12 h. It follows from Eq. (4) that under these assumptions the
estimates of the unit capital cost of self-generated electricity will vary within the 50%
condence interval.
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The second column of Table 2 reports the rst term of Eq. (5), the
estimated average capital cost of self-generated electricity, adjusted by
the frequency of power outages. As might be expected, the average
capital cost of self-generated electricity is higher in countries with a
reliable power supply (Egypt, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, and South
Africa), and in the informal sector, which uses inefcient low-capacity
generators (Senegal).
The third column of Table 2 shows the average total cost of self-
generated electricity, calculatedas a sum of the average capital cost and
the average variable costs. Overall, the average total cost of self-
generatedelectricity is aboutve times thepriceof electricity purchased
from the public grid and can be as much as ten times more (in Malawi,
South Africa, and Zambia). Eritrea is the only country in which theaverage total cost of self-generated electricity is comparable to the price
of purchasing electricity from the public grid.
The last column of Table 2 shows the weighted average cost of
consumed energy, taking into account the share of self-generated
electricity reported in the enterprise surveys.18 It can be seen that while
the average total cost of own-generation is very high, its effect on the
weighted average cost of power for most countries is not very large,
owing to limited use of own-generation. The impact of own-generation
costs is higher in countries where electricity from public utilities is
subsidized (Egypt, Malawi, and Morocco), where the supply of public
power is reliable (Egypt, Mauritius, and Morocco), and where the share
of own-generation is large (Benin, informal sector in Senegal).
5.2. Benets
Our analysis of the economic benets of own-generation takes two
paths. The rst follows the literature on the reliability of electricity
supply (see, for example, Kariuki and Allan, 1995) and computes the
value oflostload, denedas thevaluean average consumer puts on an
unsupplied kWh of energy. Thevalue of lost load is represented by the
customer damage function
y = fX: 6
According to Eq. (6), the value of lost load (y) measured in dollars
per hour depends on variety of parameters (X), including costs and
frequency of outages, seasonal characteristics, and advance notice.
Because data on seasonal characteristics and advance notice were not
available, the lost load value was based on the costs and frequency of
power outages. Lost load values were computed separately for rms
with and without their own generators. For rms owning a generator
the lost load value was calculated as
y = vKg 7
where v is the generator's operational cost (in dollars per kWh), as
described earlier, and Kg is generator's capacity in kW. For rms
without a generator the lost load value was calculated as
y =Z
t8
where Z is reported sales lost from power outages and t is reported
frequency of power outages, multiplied by their average duration19
The economic benet of owning a generator is thus expressed as the
reduced loss per interrupted kW. The average values of lost load for
rms with and without generators are reported in Table 3. In all
countries, except Uganda, thelost load is considerablyhigher forrms
without a generator, especially in countries with infrequent (Maur-
itius, South Africa) or costly (Malawi) power outages.The second way to determine the benet of own-generation is to
estimate the marginal benet of owning a generator by regressing the
percentage of sales lost from power outages against the duration of
power outages, generator ownership, and salient characteristics of
countriesandrms20Selectedestimated parametersof sucha regression
are reported in Table 4; the complete set of parameters appears in
Appendix A, Table 3. The estimated parameters are jointly statistically
signicant (the p-value associated with the computed F-statistic is less
than 0.01), and account for 20% of the variance in the response variable.
As expected, the sign of the coefcient for duration of power outages is
negative and signicant, and the sign of the coefcient for generator
ownership is positive and signicant. The size of the estimated
coefcient for generator ownership suggests that, when controlling for
other factors, owning a generator decreases losses from power outagesby approximately 1% of a rm's sales.
5.3. Costs vs. benets
5.3.1. With no improvement in quality of public power supply
Here we summarize the costs and benets of own-generation by
integrating them at the rm level, assuming no improvement in
quality of public power supply. The costs are computed as the sum of
the annualized xed costs of acquiring a generator and the net annual
Table 3
Losses due to outages (lost load) for rms with and without their own generator.
Country Lost load (no generator, $/h) Lost load (with generator, $/h)
Algeria 155.8 52.2
Benin 38.4 23.1
Burkina Fasoa 114.1 13.0
Cameroona 403.6 12.3
Cape Verdea 177.7 36.4
Egypt, Arab Rep. 201.5 30.4
Eritrea 31.9 10.2Kenya 113.1 37.1
Madagascar 434.5 153.0
Malawi 917.3 401.4
Mali 390.3 9.5
Mauritius 468.6 13.9
Morocco 377.5 22.9
Nigera 81.3 22.6
Senegal 166.0 19.2
Senegalb 12.9 1.9
South Africa 1140.1 66.1
Tanzania 444.3
Uganda 27.6 191.4
Zambia 286.6 39.2
= data not available.a Survey of tourism sector.b Survey of informal sector.
18 This indicator is based on the assumption that the electricity tariffs charged by the
utilities are set according to marginal-cost pricing schedules.
19 Power outages were assumed to last 8 h on average.20 An attempt to estimate the marginal benet of owning a generator with respect to
physical capital losses on a smaller sample ofrms did not yield signicant results. The
details are available from authors upon request.
Table 4
Marginal benet of owning a generator.
Reduction in lost sales
Variable Estimated coef cient P-value
Days of power outages (lo g) 1.94 0.00
Generator ownership 1.16 0.01
Constant 1.71 0.11
F-statistic 26.25 0.00
R2 0.21
N 4254
statistically signicant at 1 percent level.
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operating costs of generation. The xed costs of own-generation were
annualized assuming linear depreciation. The net annual operating
costs were calculated as the product of the rm's consumption of self-
generated electricity and the difference between the costs per kWh of
self-generated electricity and of electricity from the public grid.21
We use two approaches to calculate the benets of own-generation.
In the rst, moreconservative approach we assume that rms that own
a generator may incur lost sales from power outages, for example,
because of disruptions in generator's fuel supply. Themarginalbenet of
own generation is calculated as the reduced sales loss from the
regression analysis in the previous section, adjusted fora corresponding
xed-effect.22 In the second approach we assume thatrms that own a
generator do not lose sales from power outages. The marginal benet of
own generation is computed as an opportunity cost of not having agenerator, e.g. the lost sales from power outages by rms without
generator.23 Both costs and benets of owning a generator are
expressed as percentages of sales. The resulting difference between
the benets from the rst approach and the costs of own-generation
(the benet-cost margin) was tested for statistical signicance from
zero using the Student's t test.24 The results are summarized in
Tables 5a5c below.
The results from the rst approach indicate that in most countries,
the costs of own-generation outweigh the benets (Table 5a).
However, only in Egypt and Zambia this difference is statistically
signicant. In four countries (Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, and
Uganda) the benets outweigh the costs, and the difference between
the benets and the costs is not statistically signicant from zero.
These results imply that investment in in-house generation at leastallows rms to break even. The results from the second approach
indicate that benets of own generation outweigh the costs for all
countries. The results from two approaches can be reconciled under
less restrictive assumptions. First, the xed costs of own-generation
can be sunk or depreciated nonlinearly. In Egypt and Zambia the
negative and statistically signicant difference between benets and
costs of own generation is driven by xed costs. Second, the analysis
presented above does not account for other potential gains from own-
generation, such as reductions in damaged equipment. This is
especially important in Benin, where the average losses from
damaged equipment account for 1.5% of sales (see Appendix A,
Table 2). Third, the results of the analysis do not incorporate the
option value of lost load due to future shocks to power supply (e.g.
unexpected droughts or power infrastructure damages).
The costs and benets of own-generation differ according to rm
size (Table 5b). The total costs of own-generation vary nonlinearly byrm size, being most efcient for medium-sized rms. For small rms
own-generation imposes relatively lowxed costs but higher variable
costs. Larger rms have relatively high xed costs, and increasing
variable costs. The total benets of own-generation calculated as
reduced sales losses increase non-linearly with rm size, being the
highest for medium-size rms. Larger rms without generator are
found to incur smaller losses from the power outages. The difference
between the costs and benets of own-generation calculated as
reduced sales losses is negative across all size categories, except for
the medium size. However, it is statistically signicant only for large
rms. The difference is insignicant or marginally signicant for
microenterprises, small medium, and very large rms. For all size
categories the average sales losses of rms without generator are
higher than total costs of own generation.The costs and benets of own-generation vary signicantly across
industries (Table 5c). The costs are highest in energy-intensive
industries chemicals, nonmetal and plastic materials, and mining,
and lowest in light industries, such as textiles and wood. Chemicals and
construction have the highest xed costs of own-generation, whereas
nonmetaland plastic materialsand mininghave thehighest operational
costs. The highest gains from own-generation calculated as reduced
sales losses areobservedin mining, chemicals, andconstruction. In most
industries, the difference between the costs and the benets of own
generation is not statistically signicant. The costs of own-generation
signicantly outweigh the benets in food and beverages and metals
and machinery. However, these two industries, as well as nonmetallic
and plastic products also have the highest average sales losses forrms
withoutgenerator.Therefore,the differencebetween two approaches is
21 The exact computational procedure is outlined in a technical appendix, which is
available upon request.22 This measure represents a lower bound estimate of own-generation benets,
because rms that own generators have little lost load, and given various
considerations not related to reliability of power supply as discussed earlier in this
paper.23 This measure represents an upper bound estimate of own-generation benets
given that some generator owners reported lost sales from power outages, or because
rms without generator can be less productive and incur higher losses from power
outages. The degree of this bias cannot be determined without proper counterfactual.24 One cannot statistically compare the benets from the second approach and the
costs of own generation, because these estimates are based on different set of rms.
Table 5a
Costbenet analysis of own-generation, by country.
Percent
Country Investment
costs
Own-generation
costs
Total costs Reduced sales
losses
Benetcost
margin
Lost sales without
generator
Algeria 3.12 0.61 5.44
Benin 0.43 1.62 2.05 1.79 0.99 7.70
Egypt 2.34 0.86 3.20 1.33 2.25 6.47
Eritrea 1.54 0.41 1.95 1.28 1.43 6.55
Kenya 0.14 0.49 10.07
Madagascar 0.28 1.03 7.48
Malawi 0.09 0.78 0.87 0.23 0.23 24.10
Mali 0.31 0.17 0.48 0.51 0.04 2.77
Mauritius 0.17 0.01 0.18 0.84 1.10 3.93
Morocco 0.06 0.39 0.45 0.08 0.12 0.87
Senegal 0.32 0.50 0.82 1.23 0.18 6.96
Senegala 0.98 0.41 5.66
South Africa 0.10 0.09 0.19 1.19 0.90 0.84
Tanzania 0.43 1.01 0.94
Uganda 0.45 0.49 0.94 1.35 0.62 5.41
Zambia 3.02 0.95 3.96 0.07 3.90 4.35
= data not available.a Survey of informal sector. Statistically signicant at 1 percent level. Statistically signicant at 5 percent level.
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likely to be caused by industry's idiosyncratic factors(for example, sales
losses because of reductions in damaged equipment are important in
the food processing industry).
5.3.2. With improvements in quality of public power supply
The results of the probit model discussed earlier can be used to
evaluate the extent to which an improvement in the reliability ofpower supply will affect generator ownership. The marginal effects
of the probit model (Eq. (1)) suggest that the probability of a rm's
owning a generator is not very sensitive to power supply reliability.
Reducing power outages by half the mean outage reduces generator
ownership by less than 2% (Table 6). It appears that thoroughly
reliable power would reduce generator ownership by no more than
12%.
The predictions of the probit regression are extended to individual
countries in Appendix A, Table 4. Raising the reliability of power
supply to the level of South Africa results in a mere 3 5% reduction in
generator ownership.
Although the regression results suggest that improving the
reliability of power supply would have a relatively small effect on
generator ownership, there are several reasons to expect that the
effect would be greater. First, the regression analysis does not account
for unobserved explanatory variables, such as rms' access to nance
and productivity, which may bias the regression results downward.
Second, because investment in in-house generation is irreversible,
reductions in generator ownership will occur with a lag as public
power supply is improved. The cross-sectional data analysis con-
ducted in this study does not capture these dynamics. Third, the gainsto be had by improving the reliability of power supply may be greater
if the effects of unreliable power supply on observed industrial
structure and external competitiveness are taken into account.
Because energy-intensive industries require more stable power
supplies, improving reliability will diversify country's production
base and result in additional economic gains.
6. Conclusions and policy recommendations
This paper aims to deepen our understanding of the widespread
phenomenon of own generation of electric power by rms, as well as
its relationship to unreliable public power supplies in the African
context. It does so by analyzing the World Bank's Enterprise Survey
Database, which provides a detailed set of attitudinal and behavioralinformation about decisions relating to own power generation at the
rm level; at least for the case of larger formal sector manufacturing
enterprises.
The decision of a rm to maintain its own-generation capability is
driven by a variety of factors. Our empirical analysis shows that
unreliable public power supplies, though an important constraint to
business operations, is far from being the only or the largest factor
driving generator ownership. Firm characteristics such as size, age,
industrial sector and export orientation all have a major inuence. In
particular, the probability owning a generator doubles in large rms
relative to small ones. Moreover, the behavioral model predicts that
the percentage ofrms owning their own generators would remain
high (at around 20%) even if power supplies were perfectly reliable,
suggesting that other factors such as emergency driven back-up
Table 6
Simulated change in generator ownership.
Change in probability that rm will own a
generator
Variable Mean MinNMax mean change std change
Days of power outages 37.9 0.12 0.02 0.03
Age 18.3 0.16 0.02 0.02
Employment 111.7 0.87 0.12 0.16
Exporter 0.19 0.10 n.a. n.a.
Source: World Bank, Enterprise Survey Database.
Note.Exporter is a binary variable, thereforemean changeand std changestatistics
are not reported.
n.a. = not applicable.
Table 5b
Costbenet analysis of own generation, by size ofrm.
Percent
Size Investment
costs
Own-generation
costs
Total costs Reduced sales
losses
Benet-cost
margin
Lost sales without
generator
Micro 0.49 0.67 1.16 0.45 0.72 5.97
Small 1.19 0.51 1.71 0.82 0.67 6.09
Medium 0.43 0.36 0.78 1.48 0.66 4.93
Large 1.64 0.77 2.41 0.05 1.56 3.80
Very large 1.20 1.22 2.42 0.54 1.97 3.27
Statistically signicant at 5 percent level. Statistically signicant at 10 percent level.
Table 5c
Costbenet analysis of own-generation, by sector.
World Bank, Enterprise Survey Database.
Percent
Industry Investment
costs
Own-generation
costs
T ota l c osts Redu ced sales
losses
Benetcost
margin
Lost sales without
generator
Textiles 0.42 0.29 0.71 0.84 0.10 4.81
Food and beverages 0.79 0.77 1.56 0.28 1.41 6.12
Metals and machinery 1.08 0.13 1.21 0.41 1.72 7.00
Chemicals 2.92 0.14 3.06 1.98 0.44 4.84Construction 2.08 0.46 2.54 1.37 0.22 3.57
Wood and furniture 0.42 0.37 0.79 1.33 0.53 5.30
Nonmetallic and plastic materials 0.91 2.30 3.20 0.99 2.21 6.79
Mining and quarrying 0.11 3.10 3.22 2.41 2.40 3.28
Statistically signicant at 1 percent level. Statistically signicant at 5 percent level.
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requirements or export driven quality regulations play a critical role
in the decision to own a generator.
The costs of own-generation are high, driven mainly by the variable
cost of diesel fuel. In most cases they fall in the range US$0.30 0.70 per
kilowatt-hour, whichisoften threetimesas high asthepriceof purchasing
electricity from the public grid; although the latter is typically subsidized.
Nevertheless, in most cases, this does not hugely affect the overall
weighted average cost of power to rms given that own-generation is
only used during a relatively small percentage of the working year.At the same time, the survey evidence shows that the benets of
generator ownership are also substantial. Considering only lost sales
resulting from periods of power outages, rms with their own
generators report a value of lost load of typically less than US$50 per
hour, which isonlya fractionof the value oflostloadin excessof US$150
per hour that is reported by rms in the same country that do not have
their own generators.
Nevertheless, when costs and benets are considered side by side, the
balance is not found to be signicantly positive; a pattern which holds
across countries, industrial sectors, and business scales. This may simply
be because the analysis is only able to capture one dimension of the
benets of generatorownership namelyreductionin lost sales butfails
to capture many other important aspects such as reduced damage to
equipment, higher quality of production, and meeting reliability criterion
for access to export markets. Less conservative estimates using the
opportunity cost as the measure of the benet of own generation, show
that the benets of generator ownership outweigh the costs.
The following policy implications emerge from our ndings.
Though improvements in the reliability of public power supplies
would reduce generator use, many rms would still maintain their
own back-up generators in order to meet international quality
standards for participation in export markets. Through own genera-
tion, the majority of large formal sector enterprises are able to
effectively insulate themselves from the impact of unreliable power
supplies.Despitethe highcost of runningsuch generators (typicallyUS
$0.2545 per kilowatt-hour), given that outages are only intermittent,
the overall impact on the weighted average cost of power supply to
these rms is relatively small. The major victims of unreliable power
supply are in the informal sector, where the limited survey evidence
suggests that generator ownership is an order of magnitude less
prevalentthanin theformalsector. Thecostimposedon thesermsfor
unreliable power is very high, andrms demonstrate high willingness
to pay for reliable power through their investments in auto-generation. There is thereforea marketfor more expensive and higher
quality power supply. It shouldbe possible to strikea bargain between
government andprivate sector to the effectthatrmspay higher price
for grid power to fund investments that will make their power supply
more reliable.
Many African governments are today contracting emergency
generation capacity to avoid further utility outages. This power is
very expensive (at least $0.25 per kWh), and thus not far short of the
cost that private sector pays for own generation. By the time you add
transmission and distribution costs including losses, the costs of
emergency generation can easily top $0.30 per kWh. However,
governments continue to sell this power to industrial users at regular
grid prices. They aretherefore subsidizing thepublic sectorto thetune
of easily $0.10 per kWh to receive power that they would have been
willing to supply themselves at fullcost had the government not leased
the emergency capacity. Therefore, power from emergency capacity
should be sold to the industrial sector at full cost. In countries where
own-generation capacity is substantial relative to total national
installed capacity, the question is whether this capacity could play a
role in improving national power supplies. This would require
regulation to allow large consumers to sell excess power into the
grid at a price related to cost. There might be a market for such power
among industrial users,althoughit would likelybe tooexpensive to be
of interest for the residential sector.
Table 1
Summary statistics from the enterprise survey data, by country.
Country Electricity cited
as business
constraint
(% rms)
Power outages
(days)
Power outages
(% sales)
Equipment destroyed
by outages (% sales)
Generator owners
(% rms)
Power from own
generator (%)
Generator
capacity (KW)
Cost of KWH from
public grid (US$)
Algeria 11.47 12.32 5.28 29.49 6.22 322
Benin 69.23 56.12 7.79 1.54 26.90 32.80 35
Botswana 9.65 22.29 1.54 14.91 17.57
Burkina Faso 68.97 7.82 3.87 29.82 6.52 31
Burundi 79.56 143.76 11.75 39.22 25.28
Cameroon 64.94 15.80 4.92 57.79 7.62 25
Cape Verde 70.69 15.18 6.87 43.10 13.53 23
Egypt 26.46 10.40 6.12 19.26 5.87 353
Eritrea 37.66 74.61 5.95 43.04 9.31 103 0.11
Ethiopia 42.45 44.16 5.44
17.14 1.58
0.06Kenya 48.15 53.40 9.35 0.34 73.40 15.16 78 0.10
Madagascar 41.30 54.31 7.92 0.91 21.50 2.23 190
Malawi 60.38 63.21 22.64 49.06 4.44 50
Mali 24.18 5.97 2.67 1.36 45.33 5.09 43 0.17
Mauritania 29.66 37.97 2.06 26.25 11.75
Mauritius 12.68 5.36 4.01 0.42 39.51 2.87 37
Morocco 8.94 3.85 0.82 13.81 11.16 58
Namibia 15.09 0.00 1.20 13.21 13.33
Niger 26.09 3.93 2.72 27.54 14.74 73
Senegal 30.65 25.64 5.12 0.62 62.45 6.71 31 0.16
South Africa 8.96 5.45 0.92 9.45 0.17 64 0.04
Swaziland 21.43 32.38 1.98 35.71 10.33
Tanzania 60.24 63.09 0.81 59.05 12.28 70 0.09
Uganda 43.85 45.50 6.06 0.74 38.34 6.56 31 0.09
Zambia 39.61 25.87 4.54 0.28 38.16 5.13 51 0.04
Source: World Bank, Enterprise Survey Database.
Note:
= data not available.
Appendix A
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Table 2
Probit regression results (generator ownership).
Variable Estimated coef cient Elasticity P-value
Days of power outages (log) 0.06 0.02 0.01
Age (log) 0.06 0.02 0.03
Employment (log) 0.37 0.12 0.00
PKM (log) 0.001 0.0002 0.31
Micro Lost Days (log) 0.14 0.04 0.00
Small Lost Days (log) 0.04 0.01 0.14
Large
Lost Days (log) 0.00 0.00 0.99Very large Lost Days (log) 0.06 0.02 0.05
Exporter 0.29 0.10 0.00
Algeria 1.53 0.55 0.00
Benin 1.57 0.57 0.00
Botswana 1.09 0.41 0.00
Burkina Faso 1.43 0.53 0.00
Burundi 2.37 0.71 0.00
Cameroon 2.17 0.69 0.00
Cape Verde 2.11 0.68 0.00
Egypt 0.98 0.35 0.00
Eritrea 1.62 0.58 0.00
Ethiopia 1.20 0.45 0.00
Kenya 2.47 0.73 0.00
Madagascar 0.91 0.34 0.00
Malawi 1.49 0.54 0.00
Mali 2.16 0.69 0.00
Mauritania 1.50 0.55 0.00Mauritius 1.53 0.56 0.00
Namibia 0.89 0.34 0.01
Niger 1.69 0.60 0.00
Senegal 2.42 0.73 0.00
Swaziland 1.37 0.51 0.00
Tanzania 2.24 0.70 0.00
Uganda 1.80 0.63 0.00
Zambia 1.14 0.43 0.00
Food and beverages 0.80 0.28 0.00
Metals and machinery 0.32 0.11 0.00
Chemicals and pharmaceutics 0.65 0.24 0.00
Construction 0.68 0.25 0.00
Wood and furniture 0.19 0.06 0.03
Nonmetallic and plastic materials 0.61 0.22 0.00
Other manufacturing 0.52 0.19 0.00
Other services 0.18 0.06 0.65
Hotels and restaurants 1.11 0.42 0.00
Mining and quarrying 0.53 0.19 0.11Constant 4.00 0.00
2 Statistic 1360.04 0.00
Pseudo R2 0.26
N 4246
Note: Base country: South Africa; base industry: textiles; base size category: medium
size (50100 employees), Source: World Bank, Enterprise Survey Database.
Table 3
Tobit regression results (generator capacity).
Variable Estimated coef cient/Elasticity P-value
Days of power outages (log) 0.23 0.05
Age (log) 0.33 0.02
Employment (log) 1.74 0.00
PKM (log) 0.001 0.69
Micro Lost Days (log) 0.39 0.03
Small Lost Days (log) 0.14 0.24
Large Lost Days (log) 0.01 0.96
Very large Lost Days (log) 0.22 0.15
Exporter 0.56 0.07
Algeria 7.74 0.00
Benin 7.82 0.00
Burkina Faso 2.09 0.49
Cameroon 1.87 0.46
Cape Verde 0.44 0.87
Egypt 5.43 0.00
(continued on next page)
Table 3 (continued)
Variable Estimated coef cient/Elasticity P-value
Eritrea 7.94 0.00
Kenya 10.86 0.00
Madagascar 4.15 0.00
Malawi 6.06 0.00
Mali 9.75 0.00
Mauritius 7.35 0.00
Niger 2.24 0.44
Senegal 10.31 0.00
Tanzania 10.47 0.00
Uganda 8.06 0.00
Zambia 3.94 0.00
Food and beverages 3.01 0.00
Metals and machinery 1.18 0.00
Chemicals and pharmaceutics 2.46 0.00
Construction 1.91 0.00
Wood and furniture 0.21 0.64
Nonmetallic and plastic materials 2.11 0.00
Other manufacturing 2.73 0.00
Other services 1.05 0.56
Hotels and restaurants 14.02 0.00
Mining and quarrying 0.42 0.83
Constant 18.61 0.00
2-Statistic 1269.15 0.00
Pseudo R2 0.17
N 3756
Note: Base country: South Africa; base industry: textiles; base size category: medium
size (50100 employees), Source: World Bank, Enterprise Survey Database.
Table 4
Marginal benet of generator ownership (lost sales).
Variable Estimated Coeff. P-value
Days of power outages (log) 1.94 0.00
Generator ownership 1.16 0.01
Algeria 2.20 0.04
Benin 0.74 0.56
Botswana 3.31 0.09
Burkina Faso 0.56 0.79
Burundi 3.24 0.03Cameroon 1.21 0.39
Cape Verde 1.85 0.36
Egypt 2.12 0.03
Eritrea 1.21 0.45
Ethiopia 0.70 0.52
Kenya 3.62 0.00
Kenya (informal) 28.68 0.00
Madagascar 1.70 0.14
Malawi 15.76 0.00
Mali 0.60 0.68
Mauritania 3.39 0.03
Mauritius 1.78 0.19
Morocco 0.95 0.41
Namibia 3.24 0.18
Niger 0.64 0.75
Senegal 0.84 0.48
Senegal (informal) 3.75 0.01South Africa 1.25 0.25
Swaziland 3.01 0.09
Uganda 0.54 0.63
Uganda (informal) 10.63 0.00
Agroindustry 0.84 0.13
Metals and machinery 2.20 0.00
Chemicals and pharmaceutics 0.18 0.81
Construction 0.08 0.94
Wood and furniture 0.04 0.94
Non-metallic and plastic materials 1.02 0.15
Other manufacturing 0.06 0.95
Other services 1.80 0.34
Hotels and restaurants 1.69 0.39
Mining and quarrying 0.77 0.79
Micro 1.40 0.05
Small 0.85 0.12
(continued on next page)
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Table 5
Simulated change in generator ownership from improved reliability of power supply.
Country Power
outages
Predicted
generator
ownership
Simulated
generator
ownership
(no power outages)
Simulated
generator
ownership
(outages at South
African average)
Algeria 13.96 0.28 0.21 0.25
Benin 74.73 0.20 0.11 0.14
Botswana 24.86 0.19 0.11 0.13
Burkina Faso 20.42 0.26 0.17 0.20
Burundi 130.09 0.44 0.32 0.36
Cameroon 30.36 0.59 0.55 0.59
Cape Verde 27.30 0.46 0.39 0.43
Egypt 17.23 0.18 0.12 0.14
Eritrea 110.15 0.46 0.35 0.39
Ethiopia 60.63 0.19 0.07 0.09
Kenya 82.03 0.69 0.65 0.69
Madagascar 74.15 0.19 0.11 0.13
Malawi 76.88 0.46 0.36 0.40
Mali 14.28 0.47 0.42 0.47
Mauritania 65.65 0.27 0.16 0.19
Mauritius 7.49 0.41 0.37 0.41
Namibia 15.00 0.20 0.11 0.14
Niger 38.35 0.41 0.34 0.38
Senegal 29.15 0.61 0.56 0.60
South Africa 5.95 0.09 0.05 0.09
Swaziland 34.87 0.38 0.27 0.30
Tanzania 70.15 0.57 0.49 0.53Uganda 61.38 0.34 0.24 0.27
Zambia 36.34 0.38 0.30 0.33
Table 4 (continued)
Variable Estimated Coeff. P-value
Large 0.96 0.17
Very Large 0.16 0.82
Constant 1.71 0.11
F-Statistics 26.25 0.00
R2 0.21
N 4254
Source: World Bank, Enterprise Survey Database.
Note: Base country: Zambia; base industry: textiles; base size category: medium size(50100 employees).
514 J. Steinbuks, V. Foster / Energy Economics 32 (2010) 505514