This archive report was first published on 9 November 2019.
Kenya has seen a significant shift in household energy usage over the last decade, with more people turning to cooking gas as their primary cooking fuel. According to a joint report by the Ministry of Energy and the Clean Cooking Association of Kenya, published on November 9, 2019, the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has risen to second place, with two in every 10 households in both rural and urban areas using it as their primary cooking fuel.
While firewood remains the most common fuel, used by 64.7% of households, LPG has become a popular alternative, with 19% of households relying on it. Charcoal, on the other hand, is used by only 10% of households as a primary fuel. The report attributes the rise in LPG usage to a combination of factors, including the introduction of a universal valve and the LPG Cylinder Exchange Pool a decade ago, the hiking of the cost of kerosene to fight adulteration of diesel, and a ban on logging that made charcoal more expensive.
Despite the convenience of using LPG, users still have to travel long distances to refill their cylinders. The report notes that households using LPG must travel nearly twice as far as kerosene users, even though twice as many households nationwide cook with LPG than with kerosene. However, the last-mile challenge is being bridged by home deliveries, where retailers can dispatch gas cylinders to consumers on request.
The LPG market in Kenya has experienced tremendous growth over the past two decades, with the number of households using LPG increasing six times from about 0.6 million to 3.7 million. Other initiatives that have led to a surge in adoption of LPG include the 2009 regulations that lowered the barriers of access and the packaging of the six-kilogramme cylinder that comes with a burner and grill.
