E-cooking revolution faces infrastructure, financing barriers
Victor Otieno uses firewood to prepare fish at Homa Bay Town fish market on June 23, 2025.
What you need to know:
- With over 76 per cent of Kenyan households relying on biomass for cooking—primarily firewood and charcoal—the country faces mounting health and environmental costs that are driving new interest in electric cooking solutions.
Victor Oteno's hospital visits have become a predictable routine. At least twice a year, the fish trader at Homa Bay Town market seeks treatment for the same symptoms: severe coughing, watery eyes, and respiratory irritation caused by wood smoke from his daily work of frying fish.
"Frying fish helps me put food on the table. The drugs helped my health improve and I did not see the reason I should stay away from work," he explains, capturing the impossible choice facing millions of Kenyans who depend on biomass fuels for their livelihoods.
Oteno's story illustrates a national health crisis hiding in plain sight. With over 76 per cent of Kenyan households relying on biomass for cooking—primarily firewood and charcoal—the country faces mounting health and environmental costs that are driving new interest in electric cooking solutions.
At Homa Bay's fish market, located on Lake Victoria's shores, the health impacts are immediately visible. Hundreds of kilogrammes of firewood arrive each evening and by 8am the next day, smoke fills the air as traders light fires to prepare fish for sale.
"Smoke from the burning wood makes me cough. A trip to the hospital normally helps me overcome the health condition," says Oteno, who has worked at the market since 2008 and spends approximately Sh800 daily on firewood.
The pattern repeats across Kenya's informal economy and rural households. Carbon Finance Consultant Lilian Kagume notes that biomass energy sources contribute a lot to carbon emission to the atmosphere while causing significant health problems through indoor air pollution.
"Studies have also shown that using fuel that pollutes the environment causes a lot of health problems through smoke that come from indoor air pollution," Kagume explains.
Women and children bear the greatest burden of indoor air pollution as they typically handle cooking responsibilities in most African households. The World Health Organization estimates that household air pollution from cooking with solid fuels contributes to respiratory diseases, heart disease and premature death.
Against this backdrop, electric cooking—or "e-cooking"—has emerged as a potentially transformative solution. Kenya's electricity generation relies largely on renewable sources including geothermal and hydroelectric power, with solar power supplementing supply in remote areas like Lake Victoria islands.
"Using electricity is cheaper. There is a misconception that using electricity in cooking is expensive but studies have shown that it is economical compared to other methods," argues Kagume.
The cost comparison reveals significant potential savings. According to Kagume, households spend up to Sh100 daily on charcoal, while the same amount can power electric cooking for three to four days.
Dorothy Otieno, founder and CEO of Homa Bay-based social enterprise Nyalore Impact Limited, has been promoting e-cooking solutions since 2018. Her organisation manufactures and supplies cook stoves that use less charcoal alongside induction and electric pressure cookers.
"We have been educating communities about carbon credit, especially in cooking. Majority of women we have engaged have started adopting the use of e-cooking and contributing to reduced harmful gas emissions," Dorothy says.
The benefits of transitioning to electric cooking are evident among early adopters. At La Sale School in Homa Bay Town, Director Antony Oloo reports significant cost reductions since switching from liquid petroleum gas to electricity.
"We currently use gas as backup during power outages. It is, however, cheaper to use electricity than other sources of energy," Oloo notes, highlighting both the advantages and practical considerations of e-cooking adoption.
Individual households report similar benefits. Blesser Odhiambo, who switched to electric cooking, says her son no longer suffers from coughing since she eliminated charcoal smoke from their home.
"Some of my friends borrow my electric pressure cooker and use it. Most of them admire it and admit that it saves money," she explains.
Despite promising early results, e-cooking expansion faces significant infrastructure challenges that proponents acknowledge but rarely discuss in detail. Kenya's electricity access, while improving, remains uneven across rural and urban areas.
Power outages, as mentioned by La Sale School's need for gas backup, represent a persistent challenge that affects cooking reliability. Rural areas, where biomass use is most concentrated, often experience less reliable grid connections.
The upfront costs of electric cooking equipment also present barriers. Nyalore Impact Limited has sold over 20,000 electric pressure cookers nationwide, but the organisation acknowledges that "most low income families cannot purchase electric cookers because of their high prices compared to the income of the families."
To address affordability challenges, Nyalore Impact Limited is pursuing carbon certification—a process that verifies emission reduction achievements to enable participation in carbon credit markets.
Carbon credits represent reductions of one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions, allowing entities to offset their emissions by purchasing credits from projects that reduce or remove emissions. The carbon credit market creates financial incentives for emission reductions by enabling projects to monetise their environmental benefits.
"Nyalore Impact Limited definitely needs to get carbon finance so they can make the solutions more affordable to the households. Carbon finance will enable them to provide subsidies for the products," Kagume explains.
Currently, Nyalore targets reaching 10,000 households within one year to switch to e-cooking. With carbon finance support, the organisation projects expanding to over 50,000 households within 12 months.
The clean cooking sector's potential has gained recognition from various organisations and government bodies. In 2018, Nyalore came second in the Renewable Energy Award competition in Ukunda, Mombasa County, under the clean cooking category. The organisation has also received Energy Awards and Diar Awards for its contributions.
These recognitions reflect growing awareness of clean cooking's importance in Kenya's energy transition and climate goals. However, scaling requires addressing systemic challenges beyond individual organisational efforts.
The transition to electric cooking brings additional considerations, including electronic waste management. Kagume notes that increased e-cooking adoption "will also lead to rise in e-waste which should be disposed of using the correct systems."
Carbon financing
Carbon finance programmes could help address this challenge by funding proper e-waste management systems alongside cooking equipment distribution.
"Carbon finance will enable waste that is generated from electronic devices to be managed properly to safeguard the environment," Kagume explains.
Kenya's e-cooking development occurs within broader energy transition policies and climate commitments. The country's renewable energy focus provides a foundation for clean cooking expansion, though coordination between energy access and clean cooking policies remains crucial.
The success of initiatives like Nyalore demonstrates local innovation potential, but scaling requires addressing infrastructure limitations, financing mechanisms, and supportive policy frameworks.
For traders like Otieno, who continue facing daily health risks from biomass cooking, the promise of electric alternatives remains distant without addressing fundamental barriers around equipment costs, electricity reliability, and business model adaptation.
The trajectory of Kenya's e-cooking development will depend partly on addressing infrastructure challenges while maintaining momentum around health and environmental benefits. Success requires coordinated efforts across energy access, equipment financing, and policy support.
Kagume describes projects like Nyalore's as "innovative and timely," noting they could "accelerate access to clean cooking in the country and target households that are using biomass and other sources that pollute the environment."
However, realising this potential requires honest assessment of infrastructure limitations alongside continued innovation in financing and technology delivery.
For the hundreds of traders at Homa Bay fish market and millions of Kenyan households facing similar choices between health and livelihood, the transition to clean cooking represents both immediate necessity and long-term opportunity—if the supporting systems can be developed to make it viable.
The question isn't whether electric cooking offers benefits over biomass fuels, but whether Kenya can build the infrastructure, financing, and policy support needed to make those benefits accessible to communities that need them most.
