Seeing is believing: Deconstructing the realities, willingness-to-use and pay for e-cook technologies in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

Abstract

Households in most developing countries underutilise modern energy cooking services like e-cooking. In Ghana, only 0.4 % of households are estimated to cook primarily with electricity as of 2023. Meanwhile, biomass fuels dominate the cooking fuel landscape of both urban and peri-urban households in Ghana, compounding the household air pollution situation, which is one of the most critical health risk factors at present. The paper seeks to unpack empirically the evidence that counters the misconceptions around e-cooking among urban and peri-urban households in the Greater Accra Region and to assess their willingness to use and pay for e-cooking technologies. Two methodological approaches were employed to achieve these objectives. Firstly, standardized semi-controlled cooking tests were carried out with four local meals prepared using 4 fuel technologies. Secondly, a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative) approach was utilised, involving the survey of 1203 households from Adenta, Ga East, and Ga West Municipalities. The results revealed that at least 70 % of the households sampled perceived e-cooking to be more expensive than cooking with charcoal and LPG. However, the cooking experiment outcomes showed e-cooking to be far cheaper compared to cooking with charcoal and LPG. Households' willingness to use e-cooking technologies increased after they saw the results of the experiment. However, most of them demonstrated a lower willingness to pay values than the market value of the Electric Pressure Cooker due to lack of affordability. The enhancement of e-cooking technologies adoption will depend on a set of transformative initiatives by all stakeholders in the energy sector.