Globally, around 1.1 billion people live without access to electricity. Ensuring universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030 is one of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015. The Global Partnership on Output-based Aid (GPOBA) supports this energy access goal through the use of output-based approaches to service delivery. Output-basedaid (OBA) is an innovative financing mechanism designed to increase access to basic services for poor populations through subsidies linked to specified outputs. This note looks at the key components of designing OBA projects in the energysector, and presents two projects in Kenya and Uganda that support access to grid electricity.