LocationsEnergy Access and Affordability in Solomon Islands: How much power is enough?
March 16, 2026
Solomon Islands’ electricity tariffs are among the highest in the world, reflecting the high cost of diesel-based generation, fuel transport, and dispersed island geography.
On the island of Malaita, just a two-hour ferry ride across the Ironbottom Sound from the country’s capital, Honiara, energy access equates to opportunity. The opportunity to store vaccines safely at a health clinic, to install a water pump that can serve an entire village, to keep fish fresh for market, or simply to turn on a light that allows children to study after sunset.
This “ask” may seem modest, but it is no less urgent. And the people of Malaita are far from alone.
Survey data from across Solomon Islands shows that while electricity access in urban Honiara is close to universal, provinces such as Makira-Ulawa, Temotu and parts of Western Province still have roughly half or more of households without electricity. Energy access in Solomon Islands remains deeply shaped by geography, with outer island and rural communities facing the greatest constraints.
Figure 1: Urban Honiara is close to universal access, while Makira‑Ulawa, Temotu and some outer provinces have roughly half or more households are still without electricity, signaling clear geographic priorities for rural electrification.
Yet even where electricity is absent, priorities are clear.
A recent nationwide survey conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) found that respondents from Choiseul, Isabel, Makira-Ulawa, Temotu and Western Province, many with monthly energy affordability capped at SBD 300 (US$36) or less, overwhelmingly ranked electricity as their highest priority. What they want is not comfort or consumer appliances, but electricity that supports essential community functions such as health care, water supply, education and livelihoods.
Women respondents placed relatively greater emphasis on street lighting and safety, underscoring how access to electricity also shapes mobility and protection from violence. Across income groups and provinces, however, the message was consistent: energy is first and foremost a foundation for community life.
If communities are clear about what they want from electricity, the more pressing question may be this: what can they afford?
More than a third of surveyed households reported having no electricity access at all. Access rises steadily with income, with the poorest households significantly less likely to be connected, clear evidence that energy poverty in Solomon Islands is closely tied to income poverty.
Figure 2: Electricity access rises steadily with income, with the poorest households significantly less likely to be connected — clear evidence that energy poverty in Solomon Islands is closely tied to income poverty.
Among households that do have electricity, most indicated they could afford only SBD 100–300 per month (US$12–35), with more than 60 percent saying they could not pay more than SBD 300. Among unelectrified households, roughly two-thirds reported a willingness to pay within this same range for a new connection.
At current domestic tariffs, SBD 300 translates to approximately 18–53 kWh per month, enough for basic lighting and a few small devices, but not for more energy-intensive services such as refrigeration or water pumping. These figures point to a fundamental challenge. If a household’s entire monthly energy budget sits within such a narrow envelope, centralised grid systems or high upfront solar costs are unlikely to be viable without targeted support.
Figure 3: The chart shows a clear gradient: poorer households cluster heavily in the ≤300 SBD budget, while richer households cluster at ≥500–800 SBD/month, underlining that tariff and connection policies must be explicitly propoor to be inclusive.
This challenge is compounded by the fact that Solomon Islands’ electricity tariffs are among the highest in the world, reflecting the high cost of diesel-based generation, fuel transport, and dispersed island geography. Affordability constraints are therefore not only a matter of income, but of structural energy costs.
Affordability pressures are not unique to Solomon Islands. Across the Pacific, similar realities are prompting a shift toward community-based energy models that prioritise shared infrastructure and productive use.
In Fiji, the Fiji Rural Electrification Fund (FREF) demonstrates how community-based renewable energy models can operate in practice, combining affordable tariffs with locally managed mini-grids to extend electricity to rural and maritime communities. Rather than treating households as passive consumers, such approaches centre on participation, long-term affordability, and the use of energy to strengthen health services, education, water access and livelihoods.
From a policy perspective, the implications are clear. Energy strategies need to move beyond individual household consumption and place greater emphasis on shared community systems. Mini-grids that power schools, clinics and small businesses together may deliver more impact than household-by-household connections alone.
Pay-as-you-go solar. Targeted subsidies. Blended finance that reduces upfront costs. Community-owned systems that spread costs across users. These approaches are already being tested across the region, but scaling them will require coordination, sustained investment, and strong partnerships.
Ultimately, the answers will not come from technology alone. They will come from listening to what communities say they need, what they can afford, and how they imagine electricity improving their daily lives.
Because the real question is not simply how to generate more power, but how to ensure that energy systems are built around the realities of people’s lives, rather than the other way around.
The challenge now is to turn community priorities into practical, affordable solutions, so that energy is not a privilege of geography or income, but a shared platform for opportunity.
This piece has been written by Dr. Raluca Eddon - Deputy Resident Representative with the UNDP Pacific Office based in Solomon Islands; Taehyun Ryu - Economist with the UNDP Pacific Office; and Nick Turner - Head of Policy, Innovation and Communications with the UNDP Pacific Office.