Living Without Electricity in Baja California

Living Without Electricity in Baja California

Access to electricity can also have a direct health impact, as our project identified. Citizens who suffer from illness and disease oftentimes require their medication to be refrigerated. Others with disabilities are unable to move around with ease, a situation that has been aggravated by the Covid 19 pandemic. People who live without electricity in their homes are dependent on their relatives and friends to carry out activities that they would normally do in their own homes.

The Value of Energy Services

A key objective of the project survey was to understand the perspectives of heads of households. Specifically, how they value or desire energy services and corresponding impacts on their daily lives. Answers are shown in Figure 1. In addition, each of these questions was followed by another open question for the respondents to express their assessment of these services in their own words.

Figure 1. Valuation of energy services

Refrigerator

Iron

Washing machine

Internet

Television

Lighting

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

I would like it very much Yes I'd like to

It's all the same to me.

It does not worry me I don't care at all

Source: COLEF team

1. Refrigeration The results of the survey, underscored by comments from the participants in the focus groups indicate that the refrigerator is the most valued equipment since it is an appliance that provides a fundamental service for the well-being and quality of life of people, such as food preservation. Without a refrigerator, people are forced to buy the food they need on a daily

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