The Electrification of Irregular Settlements in Lima: Catching up on Steep Slopes

Since the privatisation of the Peruvian electricity sector in 1994, Lima’s electricity distribution companies have not only managed to catch up with urban growth, but also reached an almost complete coverage and optimal service quality. This performance is considered to be one of the benefits from transferring to the private sector. Studying the electrification phases conducted by Lima’s utilities in irregular settlements uncovers two other factors that have contributed to these dynamics: a political framework supportive of the improvement of access to urban services and technical innovations in network engineering. The reintroduction of urban policies and the spatial context of utilities into analysis sheds light on the importance of adaptive institutional and technical capacity for servicing irregular settlements, irrespective of the public or private status of the actors.