Significantly increasing access to modern energy services in developing countries requires
strong and immediate action. Energy access is crucial to enhance economic and social development,
reduce poverty, and contribute to international security. To help provide clarity in this area, support
political decision making, and inform the design of financial responses, we consider the overall
scale of spending required to meet universal access to modern energy services. We review the
existing literature at the global, regional, national, and project levels and disaggregate cost estimates
in order to provide increased transparency through comparable metrics. We then describe a new
methodology and calculate three new cost scenarios that attempt to address several existing
analytical gaps. We conclude that the total cost of providing (near) universal access is likely to be
considerably higher than published estimates which often focus primarily on capital costs. While
recognizing the coarse nature of our analysis, we find that the annual cost of universal access to
electricity and clean cooking ranges from USD 14 to 136 (USD 12 - 134 billion for electrification
and USD 1.4 to 2.2 billion for clean cooking).
