Post by Strathmore School of Computing and Engineering Sciences

We need to move the energy agenda in the Global South beyond access alone. Over the past decade, many African countries have made remarkable progress in expanding access to electricity. But a grid connection, on its own, does not guarantee economic transformation. That was the central theme of the Powering Productivity in African Grids Workshop, co-hosted last month by the Strathmore School of Computing and Engineering Sciences at Loughborough University, United Kingdom, alongside Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS), Climate Compatible Growth (CCG), and the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation & Scale (Y-RISE). The workshop brought together electricity utilities, energy regulators, researchers, and private investors from across Africa, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom to examine some of the most pressing challenges facing electricity systems today: ⚡ Reliability ⚡ Power quality ⚡ Utility sustainability ⚡ Productive use of electricity While electricity access has expanded significantly across Africa, reliability remains a major challenge. Frequent outages and poor power quality limit productivity, discourage investment in electricity-dependent equipment, and reduce the economic benefits of electrification. At the same time, low electricity consumption makes it difficult for utilities to recover operating and maintenance costs, creating a cycle where weak utility finances limit investments in reliability. Breaking this cycle requires stronger evidence and better data. Through an ongoing collaborative study, we are quantifying the economic value of improved electricity reliability and its impact on business productivity and growth. The findings will help inform policy and investment decisions while strengthening the case for more reliable electricity systems. In parallel, a pilot initiative launched in April 2026 is improving visibility into system losses, power quality, and network performance through advanced monitoring, smart meter analytics, geospatial analysis, satellite-based insights, and targeted field inspections. This is the kind of applied, collaborative, and locally grounded research needed to support Africa's energy transition and unlock the full productive potential of electricity. We look forward to continuing this work with our partners at MECS, CCG, Y-RISE, EPRA, and Kenya Power. Anne Wacera Wambugu | Daniel Simiyu | Eng. Dr. Julius Butime |