Abstract:
Approximately 2.8 billion people rely on polluting fuels (e.g. wood, kerosene) for cooking. With affordability
being a key access barrier to clean cooking fuels, such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), pay-as-you-go (PAYG)
LPG smart meter technology may help resource-poor households adopt LPG by allowing incremental fuel pay ments. To understand the potential for PAYG LPG to facilitate clean cooking, objective evaluations of customers’
cooking and spending patterns are needed. This study uses novel smart meter data collected between January
2018-June 2020, spanning COVID-19 lockdown, from 426 PAYG LPG customers living in an informal settlement
in Nairobi, Kenya to evaluate stove usage (e.g. cooking events/day, cooking event length). Seven semi-structured
interviews were conducted in August 2020 to provide context for potential changes in cooking behaviours during
lockdown. Using stove monitoring data, objective comparisons of cooking patterns are made with households
using purchased 6 kg cylinder LPG in peri-urban Eldoret, Kenya. In Nairobi, 95% of study households continued
using PAYG LPG during COVID-19 lockdown, with consumption increasing from 0.97 to 1.22 kg/capita/month.
Daily cooking event frequency also increased by 60% (1.07 to 1.72 events/day). In contrast, average days/month
using LPG declined by 75% during lockdown (17 to four days) among seven households purchasing 6 kg cylinder
LPG in Eldoret. Interviewed customers reported benefits of PAYG LPG beyond fuel affordability, including safe
