Measuring energy poverty in Senegal: A multifaceted approach

Abstract

Energy poverty is a multidimensional and multifaceted concept associated with imprecision in measurement and classification. To address this problem, this paper first uses the fuzzy group decision-making approach to reduce the subjectivity of assigning the weights to indicators of energy poverty. This method enables to achieve consensus on the relative importance of the indicators of energy poverty. Second, the study addresses the limitations of the existing composite indicators for assessing energy poverty in developing countries by suggesting a multifaceted approach that focuses on the utilization of modern energy for cooking, lighting, cooling, entertainment and education, and telecommunication and considers the national strategies for eradicating energy poverty. This multifaceted approach is based on four energy poverty groups, namely energy non-poor, transitional energy poor, moderate energy poor and extreme energy poor and captures the incidence and intensity of energy poverty. We demonstrate its applicability across Senegalese household data. The findings indicate a decline in energy poverty levels between 2015 and 2019. Nearly half of the population falls into the category of moderate energy poverty, characterized by limited access to clean cooking fuels and reliance on electricity primarily for lighting. The application of the multifaceted approach has several practical benefits. Considering the various categories of energy poverty is a more effective approach for enhancing the precision of energy poverty measurements, improving the reliability of the benchmark analysis, and designing energy poverty policy.