Rural electrification: Its effects on people's socioeconomic life and aspirations

Abstract

The study wanted to find out whether households, institutions, and communities which have been exposed to electricity are socially and economically more progressive than those deprived of electrification.

With the use of an exploratory-comparative design, sample households, institutions, and communities in Miagao, Iloilo which have been energized for about four years were compared with those in non-energized Banate, Iloilo. Data were furnished by the household heads and opinion leaders of the community who were personally interviewed. These were augmented by the observations of the research team.

Results reveal that sample households in the energized poblacion of Miagao were economically and socially more progressive than those in sample barangays of the town as well as in areas under study of non-energized Banate, Their heads were also found to have higher levels of aspiration than those in other sample communities. On the other hand, the sample in energized villages under study of Miagao were better off than their Banate counterparts only in terms of level of living and educational attainment of the household head. The same result is obtained when Banate and Miagao samples were compared by municipality since the sample in each town were proportionally lopsided in terms of residential areas in favor of barangay dwellers.

Users of electricity were also found very progressive and have higher levels of aspiration than the Non-users who live within the area coverage of the electrification project. Moreover, the sample institutions and sample communities of Miagao were found more progressive than those in non-energized areas under study of Banate.

Heads of the sample households and the opinion leaders in Miagao reported that electricity contributed in improving the situations of the households, and of the institutions and communities considered. This is supported by the observations of the research team. However, with only three years and eight months of exposure to electricity, it is the opinion of the investigator, substantiated by obtained data and observations, that the effects of electrification are minimal. This is so since electricity was found being used primarily for lighting and in operating household electrical appliances.