It can be assumed that electricity consumption in rural areas is considerably lower than in metropolitan areas. This holds particularly for the household sector where poverty levels are higher and overall population is low. Only in the remote areas of the Amazon, which cover about 45% of the Brazilian territory but with only 3% of the national population, grid electrification has been in part replaced by decentralised electricity supply alternatives: mainly small diesel plants supply isolated villages and towns at a total nominal capacity of only about 3 GW (Andrade, 2009a).