In this project, we propose to estimate demand for an electric pressure cooker (EPC), an electric cooking appliance well-suited to many African cuisines, among grid-connected households in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Electric cooking adoption is being increasingly promoted as a solution to energy poverty, given increasing electricity access rates and installed, renewable generation capacity. Programs to promote electric cooking recognize the need for subsidies and other demand-stimulating policies. Our project will inform these policies by estimating the current willingness to pay (WTP) for EPCs using a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism and estimating the effect of an operating cost information treatment on WTP (via randomization of the info treatment). We also hope to inform the methodological literature by evaluating a recent innovation in BDM design. We expect to find that WTP for EPCs is below market prices, but that offering information to correct misperceptions about the cost of electric cooking will increase demand.
Sustainable Development Goals
