Developing energy access index for measuring energy poverty in forest fringe villages of Madhya Pradesh, India

The study attempted to develop an energy access index (EAI) for forest fringe villages of Madhya Pradesh, India, based on the numerical score of 0-100 considering all major dimensions. A total of ten indicators were identified for developing EAI based on the review of the literature and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) with forest fringe communities. Furthermore, the relevance and weight to identified indicators were also assigned by the communities through PRAs, which was followed by experts review, reliability, validity and pilot testing. The index was applied to measure energy access of 325 households in 29 forest fringe villages of Hoshangabad and Mandla districts of Madhya Pradesh, India. The results suggested that type of occupation, economic conditions and education are the determining factors towards energy access in the forest fringe villages. The dimension-wise analysis of index shows that all the four aspects of energy usage (i.e., Cooking, House Lighting, Agriculture and Transport) must be addressed simultaneously to increase energy access.