E-cooking growth in Ghana: Empirical examination of opportunities and challenges

Cooking is an essential activity of households. Approximately 90% of the energy used by households in developing countries goes into cooking. Biomass remains the dominant cooking fuel used by households in Ghana. These fuels are major sources of household air pollution, accounting for close to 4 million premature deaths globally each year. Such dreary statistics underscore the importance of clean cooking promotion in Ghana, since only about 0.4% of households use electricity as their primary cooking fuel, notwithstanding the high electricity access rate. This study analyzed the dynamics of electric cooking (e-cooking) in the Adentan and Korle-Klottey Municipalities in Ghana's Greater Accra Region. Adentan is a cosmopolitan area with a mix of urban and peri-urban settlements, although most households are urban. Korle-Klottey, by contrast, is predominantly urban. Using data from 1167 households and 250 electrical appliance dealers (collected in 2021), this study applied descriptive statistics and the multi-tier framework for cooking to assess e-cooking adoption patterns, challenges, and opportunities. The findings revealed that perceptions of the high cost of e-cooking (69%), safety concerns (35%), and electricity unreliability (15%) dissuade households from cooking with electricity. However, 39% of households use electricity to cook in addition to other cooking fuels. These households revealed that faster cooking time (63%), convenience (62%), and accessibility (23%) were positive aspects of e-cooking. The results revealed opportunities for the augmentation of e-cooking based on the high multi-tier framework scores in four attributes: efficiency, availability, convenience, and less pollution compared to other cooking fuels. To sustain interest in the adoption of e-cook technologies, it is recommended that the government stringently regulate the electrical appliances sector to weed out substandard appliances and maintain affordable electricity tariffs for households. This study is therefore important in drawing the attention of policy-makers toward the inclusion of e-cooking in national clean cooking campaigns.