POWER PROMISE ELECTRICITY REFORMSINEASTERN EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA 31TABLE 4.3: SHARES OF SPENDING ON ELECTRICITY WENT UP, 1993�002 (MEAN OF HOUSEHOLD ELECTRICITY SHARES)1993 Armenia Bottom quintile Top quintile Mean Georgia Bottom quintile Top quintile Mean Hungary Bottom quintile Top quintile Mean Kazakhstan Bottom quintile Top quintile Mean Moldova Bottom quintile Top quintile Mean Poland Bottom quintile Top quintile Meana1994 na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na 4.6 2.3 3.41995 na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na 4.6 2.4 3.41996 18.2 3.6 9.0 3.1 1.5 2.0 na na na 0.16 0.11 0.14 na na na 4.5 2.3 3.31997 na na na 3.8 1.5 2.3 na na na na na na 6.5 2.7 4.1 4.5 2.1 3.31998 na na na 5.7 1.6 2.9 5.6 3.6 4.9 na na na 7.6 3.2 4.6 6.6 3.5 3.81999 10.2 5.3 7.2 4.4 1.5 2.5 6.3 3.7 5.4 na na na 10.8 4.2 6.1 7.2 3.7 4.12000 na na na 3.7 1.5 2.4 6.5 3.7 5.4 na na na 8.4 4.1 5.5 5.3 2.6 4.12001 13.9 6.5 8.8 3.6 2.3 2.7 na na na 0.92 0.56 0.69 7.7 3.7 5.2 5.8 2.9 4.32002 na na na 6.3 2.0 3.4 na na na na na na 6.3 3.0 4.3 na na nana na na na na na 4.3 2.2 3.4 na na na na na na 4.5 2.4 3.4a. For 1999 the results reported are based on 1999 Household Budget Survey.The results for the 1999 Energy Survey for Armenia are similar: the average expenditure share is 6.2 percent, that of the bottom quintile 8.8 percent, and that of the top quintile 5.0 percent. Source: Authors�calculations from household survey data.higher share of total expenditures to energy (Lampietti and Meyer 2002) and that electricity is a necessary good. It also implies a greater proportionate welfare loss for the poor and a more active search for substitutes when electricity tariffs increase. The overall welfare impact of the reforms can be measured by the change in consumer surplus. Consumers gain from an improvement in service quality and the removal of rationing, but lose from an increase in price. Since we cannot measure the gains from the service quality improvement from the existing data, we focus on the consumer surplus change of a price increase. The magnitude of the welfare effect of a price increase depends on the household dependence on the energy source, measured by its budget share, the price change, and the household access to substitute energy sources and other goods and services. The third is measured by the elasticity of demand. For electricity the elasticity of demand is typically low: it has been estimated between �.08 and �.32 for a range of countries (Hope and Singh, 1995).23 The23. Electricity price increase of the late 1980s for Zimbabwe, Colombia, and Turkey.