PATTERNS AND DETERMINANTS OF DEMAND FOR ALTERNATIVE ELECTRICITY IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Due to epileptic electricity supply in Nigeria, the household sector spends a more significant share of its income on alternative sources which could have been used to improve their welfare. Despite this effect, not much has been exploited. This study, therefore, analyzed the pattern and determinants of alternative electricity sources based on secondary data from NBS on General Household Survey 2018-19. The statistical methods used were descriptive and OLS. The results revealed that 79% of the household heads were male, with an average age of 52 years and a household size of 6, most have secondary education earning a low income of N35,192. The most used alternative energy is generator 85.4%, rechargeable lantern 8%, candles 6% and solar energy 0.4%. Also, 50.5% of the generators and the solar panels were bought between 2015-2019. The commonly used generator was tiger generator whose purchase price starts from N15,000 with an average capacity 950watt. The demand for generator was affected positivity by income, family size, age and educational level at 1% levels respectively. For the rechargeable lantern, income was significant at 1% but negative while positive and significant for family size (1%), age (1%) and educational level (10%). Demand for candle on the other hand, was negatively related to income (10%), educational level (5%), family size (5%) while age was insignificant likewise sex for all the three sources. The conclusions were; the use of generator has been increasing over the years while few households have started titling towards solar energy. The study recommends that government should improve electricity supply.