Cambodia's energy poverty and its effects on social wellbeing: Empirical evidence and policy implications

This study aims to quantify the incidence of energy poverty in Cambodia and its potential impact on the social wellbeing of the people of Cambodia. The notion of energy poverty of a household is not well understood in the context of literature as it may refer to either ‘energy poor’ or ‘economically poor’ condition of the household. This study defines energy poverty in terms of lack of accessibility and/ or affordability of energy, which may cause the deprivation of a household and affect its wellbeing. The study uses the latest Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey Data 2015 (CSES 2015) to investigate the impacts of energy poverty on the health, education and earning opportunities of the households. The findings of the study suggest that energy poverty of a household is strongly associated with the type of fuel used and low consumption of unaffordable clean energy by the household. The resulting impacts of energy poverty on the wellbeing of households are enormous. Energy poor households have a higher probability of its members suffering from respiratory problems, spending more on medical care, having a higher dropout rate from schools and lower earning opportunities than the households without energy poverty. Based on its findings, the study suggests an urgent need of policy measures focusing on provision of clean and affordable energy to poor households to reduce / eliminate energy poverty in Cambodia. •Energy poverty is defined using clean energy accessibility and affordability.•Households affected by energy poverty reduced earning ability and wellbeing.•Energy poverty is strongly associated to energy access and quality of fuel uses.•Energy poverty line is established for Cambodia.