Household Energy Consumption Pattern in Offa City, Kwara State Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examined the household energy consumption patterns in different apartments of various households. An assessment of the energy sources in Offa Kwara State, Federal Republic of Nigeria was undertaken with the intention to guage their consumption patterns. Analysis to see result of financial gain, monthly earning and unit size on quantities of energy sources usage was done on modal statistical method and percentage analysis. The analysis on age range, energy resources in the selected areas and consumption patterns were based on descriptive statistics. Systematic sampling was applied to sample 800 households. Well structured questionnaire with oral interview and measuring equipment were used to obtain and evaluate our data. The findings enveloped that 20% of the respondents were above 45 years old on average and about 80% had a household size of 1 - 6 members. The major city relies on charcoal as their source of energy. The calculable average daily charcoal usage for cooking, and kerosine for lamp consumption ranged between 1.2 - 33.8 kilogram and 0.5 50.2 litres. The common annual financial gain of the respondents varies between $100 – $1000 U.S.A. currency (17,000Naira - 170,000Naira Federal Republic of Nigeria currency), that shows that majority of those people live average lifestyle in favour of low lost of living. Maximum quantities of kerosine and charcoal consumed by respondents area unit are 33.8litres and 50.2kg respectively so their relationships are significant at 3.3 % financial monthly budget. Solar energy systems need to be developed and upgraded as power station for constant electricity supply for use in the city of Offa with efficient management and utilization. This will reduce monthly budget on energy consumption and improve welfare of all households in Offa Kwara State, Nigeria.