Urban and rural household energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does spatial heterogeneity reveal the direction of the transition?

Understanding the dynamic behaviour of Sub-Saharan African households as they move along the energy ladder is essential for energy transition in developing countries. This study applies fixed- and random-effect panel data models to analyse the drivers of rural and urban households’ energy transition in Nigeria from 2010 to 2018. Results show that rural households tend to increase expenditure on fuel sources that substitute for the source whose price has risen, while there is no significant price-expenditure relationship for urban households. Aside from income, education, household size, and internet access are essential drivers of household fuel choices irrespective of spatiality. The authors find evidence of a reverse energy transition, which limits the shift to cleaner fuels and increases the economic vulnerabilities of rural households, and note that Nigerians’ fuel preferences are shifting to be price inelastic.