​​Powering Wellbeing: Rethinking Electricity Planning Beyond GDP in Southeast Asia​ 

This report examines the limitations of the GDP-centric development model that continues to guide electricity planning across Southeast Asia, with a focus on Indonesia, Viet Nam, Thailand and the Philippines. While these economies have expanded generation rapidly and achieved near-universal electricity access, the report finds that electricity planning remains largely oriented towards aggregate growth and industrial output. Using a Decent Living Standards framework, it estimates the minimum level of electricity required to secure basic well-being and shows that the central challenge is often not insufficient generation capacity, but the way electricity is allocated and priced. The report concludes with a policy toolkit to help reorient electricity governance from aggregate growth towards sufficiency.