Why access to electricity changes everything

Electricity underpins every one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from healthcare and education to economic growth, climate action and digital inclusion. Yet hundreds of millions of people around the world still lack affordable and reliable access to it. As we celebrate World Standards Day 2026 this week, with a focus on SDG 7, affordable and clean energy for all, we speak with IEC Vice-President and Standardization Management Board (SMB) Chair Vimal Mahendru about the transformative power of energy access and his vision for a brighter future.

What sparked your passion for worldwide access to clean and reliable energy?

It all started in around 2013 when I was head of a large industry association in India. At the time around 320 million people in the country had no electricity, while globally the number was around 1.2 billion. There existed a solution, the low voltage DC microgrids powered by solar energy, but for these to be deployed at scale they needed standards. That led to us working with BIS, India's IEC National Committee, and with the IEC, to begin developing the standards that were needed to get this work underway.

But what really sparked my passion for this was visiting the villages that lacked electricity and seeing firsthand just how deeply it affected people's daily lives.

Was there a particular moment that stayed with you?

Yes. One of the villages I visited was just east of Mumbai, which is the home of Bollywood and the financial and commercial capital of India. Just 150 kilometres away from Mumbai was a village with no electricity. And there I met an old man who made his living weaving bamboo baskets. He could make about ten baskets a day but once the sun went down he had to stop as there was no lighting.

What struck me most about the village was that there were no young people. They had all moved to cities to seek work and opportunity. Without electricity, they were effectively cut off from the outside world.

When I returned sometime later, after the microgrids had been introduced, I met the basket weaver again. Now he could weave 14 baskets a day, because he was able to work in the evenings. And the first thing he bought with the extra money he earned was a mobile phone, so he could call his children and grandchildren who lived in the cities. That is the transformative power of electricity access.

Why is access to electricity so important?

We often think of electricity as something as simple as turning on a light, but for that village it was a total gamechanger. For many communities it means better education, more effective healthcare and greater economic opportunity.

I have seen this in many parts of the world. I have seen people walk for hours just to charge their mobile phone because their phone was essential to their livelihood. Electricity access enables people to start and run businesses, to participate in the modern economy and communicate with their families. This is the real power of energy access.

What is the biggest barrier to achieving universal clean energy access?

I think the biggest challenge is scale. For many countries, extending clean and affordable energy to everyone requires significant investment, particularly to reach those in remote areas.

The good news is, the technology exists, with things like microgrids, battery storage and renewable energy systems, and they are becoming increasingly efficient and affordable. The challenge is deploying them quickly and consistently where they are needed.

That is where IEC work and international standards play a vital role. Standards help ensure that technologies are safe, reliable and interoperable, providing confidence to investors and making it easier to deploy proven solutions at scale.

What is your vision for global energy in 2050?

My vision is simple. I believe that everyone, everywhere should have access to electricity that is clean, affordable, reliable and sustainable. By 2050 I hope we will have moved entirely to renewable energy. I want future generations to enjoy a better world. It is definitely achievable but not easy. We have the technology and we have the standards. People often ask whether achieving universal energy access is affordable. My response is: can we afford not to? The social, economic and human benefits are simply too great to ignore.

Learn more about World Standards Day and IEC work towards SDG 7: affordable and clean energy for all.

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