The Multi-Tier Framework for Energy Access | Insights and Impact from a Decade of Surveys

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This report synthesizes a decade of Multi-Tier Framework (MTF) survey implementation, drawing on 29 surveys conducted across 27 countries between 2016 and 2025. The MTF, developed by the World Bank's Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), replaces binary energy access metrics with a multidimensional six-tier system that evaluates electricity and cooking services based on attributes including capacity, reliability, affordability, and safety. 

The empirical findings reveal a substantial divergence between physical connectivity and high-quality service, highlighting grid performance as a central "second-generation" policy challenge. At the same time, decentralized off-grid solar solutions have emerged as a critical pathway for initial electrification, though reliance on entry-level products often caps household progress at lower tiers. In the cooking sector, highly polluting methods continue to dominate, while clean fuel stove adoption remains hindered by context-specific convenience, economic, and logistical hurdles. 

In practice, the framework has been utilized globally to guide sector planning and investments. National governments have integrated MTF diagnostics to reform subsidy structures, design targeted consumer financing, calibrate off-grid solar deployments, and embed multidimensional targets directly into geospatial electrification models.

Moving into its next decade, the report outlines strategic priorities focused on institutionalizing streamlined energy modules within national household survey systems to ensure sustainable monitoring, alongside compressing stand-alone survey lifecycles and incorporating real-time digital technologies to capture spatial variation over time.

EXPLORE THE DATA: Multi-Tier Framework for Energy Access

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READ THE CONCEPTUALIZATION REPORT: Beyond Borders: Energy Access Redefined | Executive Summary