Families, Electricity consumption and development. Study of the use of electricity sector services in traditional communities in the lower Vale do Ribeira on the coast of São Paulo.

• Grant number: 25/03811-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics - Regional and Urban Economics
• Principal Investigator: Carlos Raul Etulain
• Grantee: Luiz Felipe Medina Hancio
• Supervisor: Richard Fraser
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas (FCA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Limeira , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University Of Tromsø - The Arctic University Of Norway, Norway
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/02540-7 - Families, Electricity consumption and development. Study of the use of electricity sector services in traditional communities in the lower Vale do Ribeira on the coast of São Paulo., BP.MS

Abstract

Access to electrical energy services in family consumption units, from the perspective of end use and focusing on lighting in homes and the use of domestic appliances with different functions (cooking and food refrigeration, knowledge-communication-entertainment, home air conditioning , washed clothes) is part of the population's living conditions. In Latin America, in 2018, an electricity coverage level of 97% was recorded (Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, 2020), although per capita consumption has been one of the lowest in the world (2,156 KWh) compared to per capita consumption at a global level (3,131 KWh) (World Bank, 2014). The objective of this research is to analyze the relationship between the electrical service in the country and the accessibility conditions of families in traditional communities in the lower Vale do Ribeira on the coast of São Paulo, SP, Brazil. The relationship between development and the population's living conditions is essential to be analyzed and understood to facilitate diagnoses and public policy recommendations. Limited access to electricity consumption is related to service conditions and the low level of incorporation of technology and appliances in homes, therefore, barriers to access and supply of domestic electrical energy are detected. These access-limiting barriers become even greater when analyzing ethnic groups, Afro-descendants and indigenous communities. This makes the subject an urgent problem to be analyzed in Brazil, since the greater vulnerability of these social groups is a factor in the generation and reproduction of poverty conditions. Hence, we seek to evaluate access to electrical energy on a regional scale, defending the hypothesis that this access has important effects on mitigating social vulnerabilities and on the dynamics of development.