Powering productivity: How better electricity quality and reliability can unlock MSME growth in Sierra Leone
Poor power quality and reliability in low-income countries severely limit the productivity of micro, small, and medium enterprises and overall utility performance. Using real-time monitoring in Freetown, Sierra Leone, the study shows that granular electricity data can inform policies to improve grid reliability, boost MSME productivity, and support economic growth.
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Osunmuyiwa-Wall-Policy-Brief-September-2025.pdf
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- Electricity is fundamental to economic growth. In low-income countries (LICs), poor power quality and reliability (PQR), manifesting as outages and voltage issues, constrain the productivity of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and the electricity sector as a whole.
- While the criticality of PQR for MSME and utility viability in LICs is known, policymakers lack granular data to measure and evaluate the effects of poor PQR on MSME productivity or design targeted PQR investments that unlock economic growth.
- This project addresses these gaps using nLine’s energy system remote monitoring tools and data to assess the impacts of poor PQR on MSMEs in Freetown, Sierra Leone. PQR monitoring sensors were installed with 48 MSMEs across 12 communities in Freetown for nine consecutive months.
- Our data revealed that (i) 66.6% of monitored MSMEs experienced a minimum of five hours of outages daily; (ii) 50% of MSMEs spent two to six hours each day with voltage levels below the recommended operating standard and (iii) the implied $ value of unserved energy for the distribution utility, when extrapolated to a wider population, is in the order of several hundred thousand USD.
- Our assessment draws attention to the power of real-time grid monitoring and data in addressing the operational impacts of poor PQR on MSME performance and enabling utility profitability. We conclude with policies that can be adopted to address PQR data gaps, improve grid performance, and enable broader economic resilience.