This book represents a synthesis of research findings on energy in remote rural areas in East Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia, demarcating a localised understanding of electricity issues that are relevant to similar community profiles in other developing countries, which are facing similar challenges. The authors discuss several key issues relating to electricity access in the Indonesian context, such as government energy expenditure and policies for geothermal development. The book also presents empirical estimates of the social effects of electricity access. In focusing on an underdeveloped area in eastern Indonesia affected by innumerable problems relating to poverty, the book contributes to related discussions on the first Sustainable Development Goal in proposing possibilities for poverty reduction vis-a-vis improved energy infrastructure. It demonstrates the impact of electricity access on people's welfare. Co-published with the Indonesia Institute of Science (LIPI), this updated edition is a valuable reference for policymakers and scholars interested in the electricity sector in Indonesia and rural areas in developing countries elsewhere. It appeals to specialists researching and working in the energy sector and is also interested in scholars and practitioners focused on sustainable development and Indonesian policymaking more broadly.

This book aims to assess multidimensional aspects of energy security in the electricity sector. There are few academic literature that assess regulation and governance, availability, technology development and efficiency, environmental sustainability, and affordability dimension comprehensively. This book demonstrates how these dimensions are interconnected. The publication of this book comes at a timely moment when the Indonesian government needs to provide electricity access to more than 60 million people, to speed up electrification ratio outside Java, to reduce electricity subsidy, and to promote green power system. Moving from "darkness to light", Indonesia needs to strengthen regulation and governance as a basis to elevate other dimensions to move forward.