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How pay-as-you-go smart cooking gas meters promote equity in city slum

PAYGO

Safari Supa Gas Head of Business Development Flora Njagi (left) and PAYGO ENERGY CEO and Co-Founder Nick Quintong during the interview at their office in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The usage of biomass fuels such as charcoal and wood for cooking among Kenyan families is rising due to costly liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

After the Finance Act of 2021 came into effect on July 1, the Kenyan Government introduced a 16 percent value added tax (VAT) on cooking gas, which pushed up the price of a 13-kilogramme gas cylinder by at least Sh350 to about Sh2,600.

The increase in prices came at a time when households from informal settlements and rural areas were already battling an economic impact caused by the Covid-19.

With high prices, households turned to pay-as-you-go (PAYG) clean cooking smart meters as they were cheaper and cleaner.

A recent study done in Nairobi’s Mukuru Kwa Njenga by the University of Liverpool and Amref International University showed that 95 percent of households continued using PAYG gases during the Covid-19’s lockdown period despite a decline in incomes.

“For comparison, a sample of households in Eldoret, a peri-urban community in western Kenya, without access to PAYG meters during lockdown – and who instead had to rely on single, bulk purchases of LPG – reduced their average use of gas by 75 percent,” the report notes.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), affordability of clean cooking solutions like LPG stoves is one of the biggest barriers to reducing exposure to household air pollution in resource-poor households.

However, the research suggests that PAYG smart meter technology can help address the affordability challenges of clean cooking by enabling incremental fuel payments for households in place of paying the full upfront cost of a LPG cylinder.

“A recent study assessing pay-as-you-go LPG cooking patterns showed that in spite of economic and other hardships, the amount of LPG consumed by households remained relatively stable, illustrating how smart meter technology may have maintained a healthier home environment for at-risk populations during the lockdown,” WHO says.

Other benefits of PAYG cooking gas are increased safety from burns/gas explosions, the ability to prepare multiple dishes simultaneously using the double-burner stove provided with the smart meter technology, and having fuel cylinders delivered directly to their home.

Households in the study indicated that they could carry out a higher amount of cooking/bathing tasks with PAYG LPG compared to the same amount spent on kerosene, partially due to the double-burner stove.

Besides, the solution benefitted households by avoiding air pollution generated from use of polluting stoves paired with fuels like wood, charcoal, animal waste or kerosene, which is a leading risk factor for disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly among women and children.

According to the Ministry of Health, 21,000 Kenyans die annually from indoor air pollution from dirty cooking fuels alone. For instance, the ministry spent Sh33 billion on respiratory infections in 2016.

Stoves powered by electricity or fuelled with gaseous fuels like LPG, natural gas and biogas are clean and scalable available solutions proven to reduce household air pollution exposure and disease. But, affordability is a common barrier to their adoption by poor households.

Another study, also conducted in Mukuru Kwa Njenga by the University of Liverpool and Amref International University assessed effects of Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020 on energy and food security.

“During lockdown, a quarter of households who were buying LPG in bulk (for instance 6 kg cylinders) could not maintain its use in the face of loss of employment and income decline, and switched instead to polluting cooking fuels such as kerosene or wood, which could be bought in smaller amounts or gathered for free.”

Additionally, 95 percent of all households reported income loss with 88 percent indicating they were food insecure.

Households that switched their primary cooking fuel away from LPG during lockdown were more likely to alter the foods they consumed, with common changes including reduced consumption of meat and breads and higher intake of vegetables.

“These households also tended to have had lower LPG consumption prior to lockdown and had suffered greater pandemic-related income loss compared to households that continued to use LPG.Thus, inequities in clean cooking fuel access may have been exacerbated by Covid-19 lockdown. This study highlighted the complex relationship between shifting household demographics, financial strain, diet and cooking patterns during Covid-19 lockdown and also showed how the food-energy nexus provides an opportunity to address two key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): achieving zero hunger (SDG 2) and universal affordable, modern and clean energy access (SDG 7) by 2030, further compounding the health benefits afforded through clean household energy,” the report notes.

WHO says ensuring that LPG is affordable, accessible and meets the dietary and cooking needs of families should be a policy priority for helping improve food and energy security among the urban poor while at the same time preventing lung and cardiovascular disease.

“These two studies highlight increased challenges to equitable energy access due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but present exciting opportunities for innovative technologies like pay-as-you-go smart meters to overcome households’ financial strain and allow them to breathe cleaner air in their homes when cooking,” Matt Shupler, from University of Liverpool says.

However, Kenyans still use biomass such as charcoal and wood for cooking despite new cooking technologies such as ethanol cooking fuel (ECF) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that are more clean, healthy and affordable.

Nationwide, biomass accounts for 72 percent of market share followed by LPG (14 percent) and kerosene (14 percent). Whereas 21 percent of urban primary fuel source is wood, this is higher in rural areas at 86 percent.

Biomass is especially popular among rural communities as well those living in informal settlements for being affordable, readily available, among others. But, its usage raises health concerns as well as environmental degradation through deforestation.