Electricity: the data needed to measure its real cost

Measuring what electricity costs a household means adding three things: the billed tariff, the spending made necessary by interruptions, and the losses those interruptions cause. Studies that look only at the first structurally understate the other two.

Backup spending is the most visible: generator, fuel, inverter, batteries, rechargeable lamps. It weighs proportionally more on lower-income households, which buy less efficient equipment and fuel at retail, and therefore more per unit.

Losses are less visible but real: perishable goods spoiled, trading interrupted, hours of work or study made impossible. They appear on no bill, which is why they drop out of debates about tariffs.

Tracking all of this requires four public data series: regulated tariffs, average outage duration, retail fuel prices, and connection rates by area. LECAP DATA will publish them as they come, each with its source and collection date.