Addressing gaps on energy access in rural and urban areas in Ghana: a case study on selected communities in the Ashanti Region
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Date
JUNE, 2016
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Abstract
There are several contemporary surveys which are essential for the energy planning purposes in Ghana, there are still energy access gaps that ought to be addressed. Subsequently, the survey “Addressing Gaps on Energy Access in Rural and Urban Areas in Ghana” is designed to bridge the identified gaps and validate the available data with new set of data gathered from rural, small/medium towns and large towns of selected communities in the Ashanti region. The project is expected to provide data that can be used for the Global Energy Assessment (GEA) modelling exercise. The survey is being undertaken to provide data to address the following issues: the per capita quantities of different energy types used in Ghana by various income decile groups; the numbers of Households in each income decile group using the different energy types found in the country; the per capita expenditures on different types of energy used in Ghana by each of the income decile groups; the price per Mega Joule (MJ) of the different types of energy used in Ghana and the number of Households using different cooking stove types and their cooking location. However, based on the objectives of the study, the following conclusions were drawn. The survey results indicate that about 81% of the households had access to grid-connected electricity in their dwellings. A key finding from the survey was that households paid an average of GH¢121.22 for the consumption of an average of 196.052 KWh of electricity per month. The quantity of electricity households consumed increased with increasing income levels. In addition, the majority (20.41%) of the households within the 10th income decile (GH¢15,601+) consume the largest quantities of LPG of varying sizes. The least (4.08%) proportion of households that use LPG were within the 1st income deciles (0 – GH¢505). Again, the survey results revealed that households consumed an average of 235.15kg of charcoal per annum. Quantities of charcoal consumed by households varied from locality to locality and income deciles. The mean quantity of charcoal in the small-medium towns was 254.2kg per annum; which was 6.2% and 18.8% higher than the mean quantities consumed by households in the large towns (238.4kg) and rural town (206.38kg), respectively. The survey results also indicated all the households that used wood fuel converted with the traditional three-stoned stove. Households in the rural communities were mostly using the traditional coal pots and the traditional three-stoned stove simply because of its affordability, availability and accessibility to the energy source particularly charcoal and fuel wood. Based on the key findings from the survey, the study recommended that institutions such as the Ministry of Energy, The Energy Center and the private sector must be engaged to develop more efficient and affordable energy conversion equipment which increases productivity while minimising fuel consumption.
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A thesis submitted to The Department of Economics in partial fulfilment of the requirement of degree of Master of Science in Economics.