Socio-economic determinants of energy consumption in Rwanda

Abstract

Energy has been a crucial aspect in improving the human lifestyle of billions of people all over the world. Energy consumption is increasing in developing countries as well as in sub-Saharan Africa at a rapid rate of accessibility among households, most specifically, for lighting and cooking purposes. The key determinants that govern both accessibilities and use among different categories of households have been an empirical debate among different academicians and scholars. In the case of Rwanda, there is scant empirical evidence that fully explains factors influencing energy consumption choice among households. The current study contributes to this scholarship by examining the key socio-determinants of energy consumption choice among households in Rwanda. This study is embedded in the theoretical framework of the energy ladder and social cognitive theories that explains the energy consumption choice factors at the household level. This study employed both OLS and logistic models to examine the key determinants of energy consumption choice for lighting and cooking energies amongst households in Rwanda by using the EICV5 dataset. The analysis categorized energies into two main groups namely: traditional and modern energies. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the marginal effects of each explanatory variable in determining the outcome variable. The findings show that area of residence, having a telephone in the household, ownership of the dwelling has a significant and positive effect on choosing modern energies for lighting purposes. On other hand, the choice of modern cooking fuels is significantly influenced by the area of residence, being married, having secondary and university studies, and household size. The study reveals that the traditional energies including firewood, charcoal as transitional, are still dominantly used in Rwanda as cooking fuels across the different socio-economic classes. The candles, torches, and batteries are the most used lighting energies in Rwanda specifically in rural areas and the use of gas (LPG) for cooking is still low even in urban regions. The findings suggest that the government of Rwanda should increase modern energy accessibility through the enhancement of clean energies related policies, subsidizing the gas distributors to encourage them to increase supply. Improvement in population capacities through enhancing education will help in reducing the use of traditional energies and mitigate related health issues. Enhancing off-grid rollout and urbanization could help in raising modern energies accessibility and use.