Pauline OdhiamboThe sun blazes over the arid landscape of Turkana County in northwestern Kenya, where temperatures regularly soar past 40 degrees Celsius. Here, in one of the country's most remote and impoverished regions, Akiru Lokwang has spent her entire life watching the national grid pass by like a promise that never arrives.
At forty-three, a mother of five and grandmother of two, Akiru lives in a small manyatta on the outskirts of Lodwar. From her homestead, she can see the transmission lines strung across the savannah—steel towers carrying electricity from the geothermal plants in the Rift Valley to the rest of the country. The power line runs within a few kilometres of her home. Yet she has never been connected.
"I see the poles every day," Akiru tells TRT Afrika, her voice carrying both resignation and quiet defiance.
"They stand there like silent witnesses to our struggle. The electricity passes over our heads, but it might as well be on the moon. The government says the grid is here, but what good is it when we cannot afford to tap into it? The connection fee alone is more than I earn in three months. Then there is the wiring inside the house, the meter installation, the monthly tokens. My neighbours and I, we look at those poles and we ask ourselves—whose electricity is this really?"
Akiru's situation reflects a cruel paradox that defines energy poverty across Africa: infrastructure exists, but affordability keeps millions locked out.
‘Energy is survival’
The latest edition of Tracking Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7): The Energy Progress Report, released in July 2026, reveals that even where the grid reaches communities, connection fees, internal wiring costs, and ongoing electricity expenses remain insurmountable barriers for the poorest households.
Across Sub-Saharan Africa, 560 million people live without electricity—a number so staggering it represents more than the entire population of the European Union. Add to that the 970 million Africans who lack access to clean cooking solutions, and you begin to understand the scale of the crisis.
Five thousand kilometres west, in Lagos, Nigeria, Adebayo Ogunlesi runs a small tailoring shop in the bustling Ajegunle neighbourhood. He invested $800 in a sewing machine and a small generator after Nigeria's national grid failed him one too many times. But the generator's fuel costs eat half his profits.
"People talk about the future of energy as if it's a luxury," Adebayo says, his hands calloused from years of cutting fabric by hand.
"But for us, energy is survival. My shop needs electricity to operate. My children need electricity to study. My wife needs clean cooking to keep our family healthy. Every day, I burn money on petrol for the generator, and every day, I watch the smoke from cooking fires fill our home. We are paying for energy three times over—in money, in health, and in lost opportunity."
Adebayo's frustration echoes the report's central finding: affordability remains a major obstacle to expanding electricity access. The pace of electrification in Sub-Saharan Africa has slowed significantly, and the report warns that progress must triple to achieve universal access by 2030.
Off-grid solar
Yet amid the bleak statistics, there is cautious optimism. The report reveals that renewable energy now supplies over 30 per cent of global electricity consumption, and renewable energy-generating capacity reached a global record of 544 watts per person.
Distributed renewable energy solutions—including off-grid solar and mini-grids—are already serving hundreds of millions of people, offering a cost-effective path to electrification for remote communities.
"The IEA is working with governments, industry and international partners to accelerate the investment and policy action needed to achieve universal access worldwide, particularly for clean cooking," says Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency.
"While SDG7 is an energy goal, its benefits extend far beyond the energy sector—improving health, expanding economic opportunity, strengthening security and building more resilient communities."
But the scale of investment required remains daunting. International public financial flows supporting clean energy in developing countries increased only marginally to $24.6 billion in 2024—a figure woefully inadequate given the scale of the challenge.
For the least developed countries, these flows actually declined by 11 per cent, registering just $3.7 billion. Debt-based financing continues to dominate, accounting for 80 per cent of total flows.
"Recent global energy shocks have made one thing clear: countries with strong renewable energy capacity are better positioned to withstand economic and supply disruptions," says Francesco La Camera, Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency.
"Accelerating the deployment of cost-competitive domestic renewables must now be central to strengthening both energy security and economic resilience, while pursuing SDG 7. To achieve this, the international community must prioritise affordable and tailored financial support, particularly for least developed countries facing the greatest barriers to access."
The health consequences of inaction are impossible to ignore. Household air pollution from cooking fuels is responsible for approximately 3 million deaths annually—a silent catastrophe that disproportionately affects women and children.
Health goals
The director-general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, frames the challenge in stark terms: "Universal access to clean and sustainable energy is not merely an energy challenge; it is a fundamental health imperative. Household air pollution from cooking fuels costs millions of lives, causes long-term disease and disability, and harms our environment. It disproportionately burdens displaced populations and women and girls who spend hours gathering fuels, exacerbating inequality for the most vulnerable."
The rural-urban divide exacerbates the crisis. While 89 per cent of urban populations have access to clean cooking, only 56 per cent of rural residents share that access.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the rural electricity deficit has grown from 376 million in 2010 to 447 million in 2024. Without urgent action, the number of people lacking access to clean cooking in the region is expected to reach one billion by 2027.
As world leaders gathered at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development in New York from 7 to 15 July 2026, the message was clear: the current pace of progress is insufficient. Global access to electricity has stagnated at 92 per cent, and annual growth has halved compared to the previous decade.
"The current global energy crisis presents an opportunity to accelerate the transition to clean energy in support of energy security," says Li Junhua, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs at the United Nations.
"Seizing this opportunity will require substantial scaling-up of international support and investment. We cannot afford complacency. The time to act with greater urgency and ambition is now."
For Akiru Lokwang in Turkana and Adebayo Ogunlesi in Lagos, the statistics are not abstract—they are the texture of daily life. Every evening without electricity is a missed opportunity. Every meal cooked over charcoal is a risk to health.
As the sun sets once more over the Turkana plains, Akiru gathers her grandchildren around the small kerosene lamp, its flickering flame casting long shadows on the walls of her manyatta. Through the doorway, she can see the transmission lines silhouetted against the orange sky—a constant reminder of the power that flows past her home but never reaches it.
"You know what keeps me going?" she says softly, her voice carrying a resilience that the harsh desert has forged over decades.
"The belief that my grandchildren will not live like this. That one day, when they turn on a light, it will stay on. That they will cook meals without smoke burning their eyes. That they will not have to choose between buying food and buying fuel. Access to electricity should not depend on how much money you have in your pocket. "
