Interactions between residential electricity consumption and urban households' lifestyle and behaviour in Burkina Faso: Findings from a survey

Abstract

Although the residential sector is responsible for almost one-third of electricity consumption in Burkina Faso, very little information and details on actual electricity use and households' behaviours in relation with it exist because research on residential sector electricity use remains very poor. This study addresses this research gap by conducting a residential electricity consumption survey within 387 households in the city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. To the authors' knowledge this is the first large-scale, city-wide household electricity study undertaken in Burkina Faso. Information on the households' socio-demographic characteristics, behaviours, and patterns of electricity use were collected to provide insights into the actual city-scale residential electricity use. Findings showed that households use, on average, 2395 kWh/year. Cooling accounts for 39.9% of the total electricity use, followed by cooking/food preserving (22.7%) and information-communication-entertainment (19.1%) activities. The study’s findings could be used by researchers, energy actors and households to better understand actual electricity use patterns in a city and country where a paucity of data currently exists as well as to identify ways to modify consumption patterns to reduce power outages and improve the living conditions of households.