Energy Utilisation and Household Consumption in Rivers State

In this study, the link between energy utilisation and household consumption was examined. The energy utilization comprised both solid and non-solid fuels such as electricity, liquified petroleum gas (LPG), premium motor spirit (PMS), kerosene and charcoal. A well-structured questionnaire was used to obtain the required primary data from a sample of 384 households across the three senatorial zones in Rivers State. The data analyses integrate both descriptive and inferential statistics with a focus on frequency counts, simple percentages, mean ratings and ordered logit regression analysis. The distribution of the households based on their consumption level showed that 132 (34.38%), 124 (32.29%) and 128 (33.33%) of the respondents in the survey reported fair, good and excellent consumption respectively, indicating that the majority of them experience fair consumption. The marginal effects results of ordered logit regression showed that electricity use significantly increases the probability of reporting better consumption (from fair, good to excellent) by 0.582%. Similarly, the results showed that LPG utilization increases the probability of reporting better consumption by 1.97%. This finding highlights the importance of access to clean energy on household consumption. In addition, the results showed that the use of charcoal significantly increases the probability of reporting better consumption by 0.125% while PMS utilization significantly decreases the probability of reporting better consumption (from fair, good to excellent) by 0.164%. Given the findings, this study recommends that government should prioritise a stable electricity supply by investing in infrastructure upgrades and build synergy with the private sector to improve LPG supply to enhance availability and affordability of energy for better household consumption.