Analysis of household energy consumption in Nigeria

Energy plays a vital role in the development of any country. In the context of the developing economies, the growth in energy consumption is associated with urbanisation and economic development through the transfer of mobile factors of production from rural to urban areas, and by the transition of the economy from a dominantly agricultural based economy to a relatively more industrialised type. Nigeria as one of the key economies in the African continent faces many challenges in this transitionary path; population growth and the growing movement of population from rural to urban areas creates a challenge for policy makers in terms of planning energy and other infrastructure needs. Planning for future may involve accurate estimation of energy needs and while there are some attempts made at understanding the patterns of demand for energy in industrial sectors, there is a scant amount of research into the patterns of consumption by households. Sources of energy for households are numerous and many traditional sources of energy are commonly used for their availability, low or no cost. However, such energy sources can be harmful for the environment and are gradually being replaced by the use of electricity due to its convenience and compatibility with the modern style of living in cities. Following an initial literature review of the most commonly used simulation modelling techniques in the field of energy consumption this paper will report on the outcomes of a model of energy consumption for the residential sector, followed by a large survey of the household behaviour in selected parts of Nigeria. The research reported here challenges the use of traditional models used for estimation of energy consumption in developed countries for countries such as Nigeria. The existence and size of the black economy as relating to the use and abuse of electricity is highlighted and various hypotheses of this research reject the Energy Ladder theory which assumes a stepwise transition into more sophisticated types of energy (i.e. electricity). The paper makes a number of contributions which are important in the debate on planning for energy in developing countries