Brazil: new business model to get electricity into the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro

theguardian.com reported that over recent decades, the favelas became infiltrated by the drug trade. Drug lords established territorial control, often denying the population access to basic services – fresh water, sanitation, energy, or healthcare, as public utilities refused to service areas where the integrity of their infrastructure or the safety of their employees could not be guaranteed by the state.

During this period, residents often resorted to unorthodox solutions to access those basic services. In the case of electricity, the solution was to steal it directly from the overhead cables, at the risk of electrocution in the process. Read Article