Define coverage factor

Coverage factor (electrification coverage factor) is the fraction or percentage of the potential consumers of a load centre who are expected to actually take an electricity connection by the design year:

$$\text{Coverage factor} = \frac{\text{Number of consumers actually connected}}{\text{Number of potential consumers}}$$

For example, if a village has 200 households and 140 are expected to be connected by the 5th year, the coverage factor is 70%.

It is less than 100% because some households cannot afford connection or wiring costs, are far from the LT line, use other sources (solar home systems, micro-hydro), or join gradually after the line is built.

Significance in distribution design:

• Effective consumers in the design year $= N_0 (1+p)^n \times \text{coverage factor}$; this directly sets the peak demand used to size the distribution transformer and LT feeders.
• Too high a value oversizes transformers, increasing cost and no-load losses; too low a value causes early overloading and voltage problems.
• It is used to estimate revenue and the economic viability of rural electrification projects.
• Coverage usually rises over time, so the design must allow for future additions (spare transformer capacity or space for upgrading).