Income Level Effect of Rural Electrification on the Household Well-Being of Proprietors of Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya

Abstract

The Kenyan Medium Term Plan 2008-2013 targeted an Energy Access Scale-up Program through which a million households were to be connected with reliable and affordable energy by 2013. Poverty rates in rural parts of Kenya have endlessly remained high indicating that household well-being has equally remained low. Given this scenario, an explanation necessitates studying income level effect of rural electrification on the household well-being in Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey design, which ensured ease in understanding the insight about the problem under study. The target population for this study comprised of 914,243 proprietors of micro and small enterprises registered in Kenya by 2015. Primary data from proprietors of rural micro and small enterprises in eight counties namely; Kakamega, Bungoma, Nakuru, Busia, Bomet, Siaya, Kericho and Kirinyaga forming a sample size of 418 and a response rate of 73.4% (307 respondents) was used. Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a general moderate positive relationship between income level effects of rural electrification and household well-being of proprietors of micro and small enterprises. Combined multiple regression analysis revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between income level effect and household well-being of proprietors of micro and small enterprises. It was concluded that income level effects have an influence on household well-being of proprietors of micro and small enterprises in Kenya. It was recommended that the Kenyan government should come up with a policy framework to include micro and small enterprises as priority areas for electrification in addition to health centers and schools.