Skip to content

Availability: Electricity distribution

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is information about energy distribution available as open data?

Feedback on draft Global Data Barometer Indicators

You are looking at a draft indicator to be included in the expert survey of the Global Data Barometer. Between now and May 10th we are inviting your feedback on this indicator and the elements it contains. You can provide your feedback by (a) completing the feedback form below; or (b) adding in-line annotations.

Feedback form

You can share your feedback on the Availability: Electricity distribution indicator here, or make use of Hypothes.is annotations

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Is this data available online in any form?
    • Data is not available online
      Supporting questions: Are there other offline ways to access this data in the country? (e.g. attending an office to inspect it)
    • Data is available, but not as a result of government action
      Supporting questions: If government is not providing access to data, how is this data available? Please provide a URL for where this data can be found
    • Data is available from government, or because of government actions
      Supporting questions: Please provide a URL for where this data can be found

Elements

Part 1: Data structure and openness.

  • Data is timely and updated. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    When was the most recent update to this dataset?

  • Dataset is available free of charge. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data is openly licensed. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If No: If there are explicit restrictions placed on re-use of the dataset, briefly describe those here.

    If Partially or Yes: If the data is provided with an explicit open license, please provide the name of the license, or a link to it here.

  • Data is available in all the country’s official or national languages. If the country has no official or national languages, data is available in the major languages of the country. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe the language coverage available.

  • Data is provided in machine-readable format(s) (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a URL where this machine-readable data can be found. (Additional URLs can be included in the justification and supporting evidence)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a comma separated list of the formats available? (E.g. csv, json)

    If Partially: What prevents you from assessing this data as fully machine-readable?

  • The machine-readable dataset is available as a whole (No, Partially, Yes) Answer no if it's only possible to access individual records; Answer partially if it's possible to export extracts of the data; Answer yes if there are bulk downloads or APIs providing access to the whole dataset without financial, technical or legal barriers.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please provide a URL where bulk download access is available or described.

    If Partially or Yes: If bulk access is provided through an API, please provide a link to where the API is described.

Part 2: Data fields assessment.

  • The data includes includes fields relevant to understanding gendered aspects of energy distribution and access. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes geospatial information about existing networks of transmission and distribution. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes geospatial information about planned networks of transmission and distribution. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes detailed information about power disruptions and outages. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes information regarding causes of power disruptions and outages. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes information on last mile distribution. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes information about micro-grid use. (No, Partially, Yes)

  • Data includes information about off-grid energy distribution. (No, Partially, Yes)

Part 3: Barriers to data quality or availability.

  • This information is missing required data. (There is no evidence of data gaps., There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing., There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.) In cases where a separate indicator has asked you to determine data requirements of a relevant governing framework, assess against that. In cases where there is no such related governance indicator, assess based on the parameters laid out in the publication of the information, your local knowledge, and any broader research you may have done for this theme.

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If There is evidence that a portion of mandated data is missing. or There is evidence of widespread omissions in mandated data.: Please briefly explain.

  • The availability of this data has been affected by government response to COVID-19. (No, Partially, Yes)

    Supporting questions (conditional)

    If Partially or Yes: Please briefly describe how COVID-19 affected the availability of this data.

Extent

  • How comprehensive is the data assessed for this question?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, but there are many other localities without available data, or with data of a lesser quality.
      Supporting questions: Which locality does this data cover?
    • The data assessed covers one or more localities, and is a representative example of the kind of data that can be found for all, or most, localities.
    • The data assessed provides national coverage.

Definitions and Identification

The energy industry distinguishes between distribution, as the delivery of electricity directly from substations to homes, businesses, and other end users via low-voltage power lines; and transmission, as the transfer of electricity from power stations to substations via high-voltage power lines. Consequently, network information typically includes both distribution and transmission data. This indicator is designed to assess data that offers an overview of the capability of electricity infrastructure in providing access to electricity for all; this necessarily involves both distribution and transmission infrastructure, though our focus is on the end user.

Data that reports on energy distribution should provide detailed geospatial information regarding network infrastructure, both that which already exists and that which is planned. It should also include information about disruptions and their causes that speaks to the on-the-ground experience of energy distribution. Along similar lines, and in alignment with widespread efforts to improve gender equity throughout all aspects of the energy sector, data should include fields relevant to understanding gendered aspects of access to energy.

Among other functions, it should be possible to use datasets that report on energy distribution:

  • to assess the comprehensiveness of distribution networks, identifying last-mile infrastructure and populations with limited or no access;
  • to support planning grids and micro-grids;
  • to increase understanding of emissions in the energy sector and help assess climate risks and vulnerabilities with regard to the reliability of distribution;
  • to innovate the provision of clean energy;
  • to propose and implement plans to achieve gender equity in access to energy;

While details about networks and disruptions are often found together, gendered aspects of access to energy are often siloed away from traditional distribution data.

Here, we're looking primarily to identify where data includes fields relevant to gendered aspects of distribution. These might include, for example, sex-differentiated data about micro-grid use or about users experiencing power disruptions, or information about off-grid distribution that speaks to fuel collection and time poverty.

Starting points

  • Sources:

    • Energydata.info offers a variety of tools and maps of open data on energy transmission and distribution around the world; the tools combine various sources to generate their datasets, but the underlying data sources can be useful for locating datasets relevant to your country if you cannot find them on websites of energy agencies or public utilities.

  • Search:

    • The website of your national or local energy agency.
    • The websites of relevant public utilities.

  • Consult:

    • Officials in your national or local energy agency or relevant public utility.
    • Scholars or researchers at civil society organizations who research utilities infrastructure, the energy sector, access to energy, time poverty, energy markets in your country.
    • Officers at civil society organizations who work on advocacy for or implementation of decentralized or renewable energy systems.
    • Community organizers who advocate for and work to implement grid extension, electrification, or renewable energy projects within their communities.
    • Journalists who report on the energy sector or fields with overlapping infrastructure concerns such as telecommunications and transportation; climate change and emissions, renewable energy, or fossil fuels; poverty, equity, and energy resources.

What to look for?

To complete the assessment for this question you will need to access and explore the available data. This may involve running queries on datasets to check the variety of fields included.

Look for evidence that can answer the following questions:

  • Does the data include geospatial information about both existing network infrastructure and plans for future infrastructure? Often this takes the form of a map that users can use to get an overview of larger networks as well as local views at a more granular level.
  • Does the data only show national networks, or does it also include information about last-mile distribution?
  • Is there detailed information available regarding power outages, such as how long they have lasted, where they occurred, and what caused them?
  • Is data about access and distribution, two fundamentally interlinked concepts, also linked at the level of data availability? Does the data include fields that might help someone understand the gendered aspects of access?

National and sub-national considerations

Countries as well as sub-national governments may trade energy—exporting energy, importing it, or some mixture of both; if your country's data shows this, please note it in the explanation box.

Additionally, in some countries, data about energy distribution may be generated and published at the sub-national level, ****carried out by individual states, regions, or cities.

Focus on national government first, and then assess whether:

  • National datasets also include data from sub-national or local government units;
  • Equivalent data exists for a selection of sub-national or local government units, but is not nationally aggregated;

To assess countries where data about energy distribution is organized sub-nationally, researchers should select the strongest example of sub-national practice, and then indicate whether this is an outlier, or an example of widespread practice.

The UN's Sustainable Development Goal 7 calls for ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Access to energy, as well as the energy sector more broadly, has wide gender inequities; consequently, the World Bank (2017) and others call for mainstreaming gender throughout energy positions, policies, and data.

As modern energy systems rely heavily on networked infrastructure, questions of access are fundamentally tied to distribution policies and practices.

Distribution can be understood from a number of angles, each supporting different actors and actions. Geospatial data about network infrastructure offers a view from above that can help users understand coverage gaps or bottlenecks and plan extensions, micro-grids, etc. Data about the reliability of distribution, about power outages and network disruptions, speaks to the on-the-ground experience of that infrastructure and can help users advocate for upgrades, maintenance, and additional infrastructure. Data on access and gender surfaces critical information on the societal aspects of distribution failure and can help users target improvements in distribution practices to address inequitable access and the time poverty it causes.