Energy services' access deprivation in Mexico: A geographic, climatic and social perspective

Energy services (ES) are essential domains to understand energy deprivation in households. However, the literature exploring ES measures that focuses on access vulnerability is small, particularly in connection with socio-economic and geographical conditions. This fact has a profound effect on national and local energy policy and multilateral frameworks, such as the UN SDGs, which traditionally favour electrification as a measure of energy vulnerability over ES access. In this article, we create an overall energy services (ES) access measure and establish its relationship with spatial, economic and social conditions, taking Mexican municipalities as a case study. Using multiple correspondence analysis and other quantitative methods, we determine the access to nine ES domains in four levels (very poor, poor, fair and high) on a nationally representative sample. The study demonstrates the existence of a pattern of inequality in the ES access and a strong link between the overall access level and the levels of urbanisation and economic/food vulnerability of a specific locality. In addition, we outline a new energy policy using these results, which feature social inclusiveness, spatial differentiation, active roles of sub-national governments, and technological stimuli. The study concludes discussing the role of ES access in the context of a future post-SDGs framework.

Automated summary

This article creates an overall energy services (ES) access measure and explores its relationship with spatial, economic, and social conditions, using Mexican municipalities as a case study. The study demonstrates the existence of inequality in ES access and a strong correlation between overall access level and urbanization and economic/food vulnerability. Furthermore, the study outlines a new energy policy that emphasizes social inclusiveness, spatial differentiation, active roles of sub-national governments, and technological stimuli.