- 1 Tanzanian ginger soda
- 2 Tanzania public electricity company
1On a warm morning in February, Emanuel and Mohammed are sipping a Stoney Tangawizi1 on the dusty Kitunda road, in Msongola, a peri-urban ward on the south-west edge of Dar Es Salaam, in the Ilala district. They are waiting for the dala dala which will take them to work in the more central parts of the large Tanzanian city. Sitting on the road side on fragile plastic chairs in front of one of the only village shops with a refrigerator, the two friends point out with a smile the latest pylon connected to the TANESCO2 electrical transformer. Everyone will soon be connected here, even Emanuel’s house where the cables were installed a few weeks ago. President Magufuli (November 2015 – March 2021†) promised on television that all Tanzanians would have electricity. When this happens, Emanuel might even invest in a small refrigerator. “You could invite me over... and finally pay me back for all the sodas I give you!” laughs Mohammed.
- 3 Oil lamp
- 4 Traditional sounding hip-hop music
2The ward of Msongola is located at the very end of the network and is symbolic of the arrival of the electricity service in many peri-urban locations in Dar Es Salaam, which are administratively urban but with many attributes of more rural municipalities. Here, there is a blend of Chinese solar lights and kerosene sold in small quantities for use with the Koroboi3. In this intermediate area between the city and the countryside, laundry is ironed using a coal iron while listening to the latest Bongo Flava4 hit on the radio; people cook ugali on a wood stove while calling their friends on WhatsApp; and chai is quickly heated on a gas stove when visitors call unexpectedly. And in any case, although electricity is not yet available, people are keenly awaiting the arrival of the network, especially to get a refrigerator, like Emanuel dreams of.
- 5 While researching this article, the top managers at TANESCO were stripped of their managerial funct (...)
3Through the case of Tanzania, this study focuses on energy transitions in the peripheries of African cities where domestic electrification is gradually being extended. In Tanzania, the energy transition supported by government institutions is intended to replace carbon-based fuels, such as charcoal, through electricity, which is cleaner and highly sought after by inhabitants (NEP, 2015). The main idea is for electrification to improve the quality of life of residents while preserving the environment by abandoning so-called “traditional” carbon-based fuels considered as polluting and dangerous, especially in a context of deforestation (MEM, 2014). This ideal of electrification is not new in Tanzania. On the contrary, it has historically been rooted in the extension of an independent Tanzania and the ideal of African socialism. Following on from the centralised colonial system, the Nyerere regime (1964 – 1985) set the foundations of a pro-active policy to maintain extremely affordable domestic tariffs, to the extent that, for a time, electricity was even the cheapest source of energy available in Tanzania, not just for lighting but also for cooking (Hosnier Kipondya, 1993). Until the 1990s, very low electricity costs could be explained in part by the government’s promotion of “modern” energy within a context of development, and in part by the refusal to increase tariffs despite inflation following the Tanzanian Structural Adjustment Programme (Wangwe, Semboja et al., 1998). Nevertheless, the privatisation of the sector following the 1992 National Energy Policy, under the pressure of lenders, resulted in the disengagement of the State and an explosion in tariffs (Eberhard & Gratwick, 2011). Moreover, the use of costly private independent producers and emergency plants to offset insufficient public electricity production has further diminished the financial status of the public electricity company, TANESCO (Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited) (Kapika & Eberhard, 2013; Eberhard et al., 2016), which has entered a vicious circle of underinvestment and debt. Despite this, implementation of the new National Electrification Programme in 2013, launch of the “Big Results Now” initiative to support infrastructure development in the country, and President Magufuli’s rise to power (2015-2021) have once again placed access to electricity at the forefront as one of the government’s political priorities. In this sense, administrations are facing significant pressure to rapidly increase the number of connections, improve the service and make tariffs more affordable. What the President considered unsatisfactory results led to the dismissal of managers at TANESCO in February 20175 and then at REA (Rural Energy Agency) in July 2019, along with significant turnover at MEM (Ministry of Energy and Minerals), with a succession of secretaries of state and ministers. Nevertheless, this authoritarian control has accelerated the number of domestic electricity connections, right across Tanzania, especially in Dar Es Salaam, although, in practice, its use still remains relatively limited. While the network is gradually being extended to households, in areas undergoing electrification such as Msongola, resident practices remain diverse, switching from one fuel to another on a daily basis according to their needs. The energy sources here are very diverse (wood, charcoal, briquettes, liquefied petroleum gas, kerosene, solar power, batteries) and their methods of use tend to be recomposed without disappearing, despite the arrival of the electricity service.
4Starting with this apparent paradox, this article would like to contribute to this special feature in Territory in Movement, focusing on “the paradoxes of the energy transition”. The assumption is that diffuse urbanised spaces in the peripheries of Dar Es Salaam are places of energy recomposition which defy the concept of the energy transition as perceived in Northern countries (Rutherford, Coutard, 2014). In this way, by analysing electricity connection in intermediate areas, the analysis necessarily comes under the continuity of discussion of the “energy ladder” and “energy stacking” model (Horst and Bovorka, 2008; Masera et al., 2000) that we intend to reposition within the specific geographical context of intermediate areas “at the end of the network” and their energy governance. In the literature about the choice of fuels for energy, many works generally emphasise the importance of poverty in a household’s choice of fuel (Kowsari and Zerriffi, 2011; Kedebe et al., 2010; Visagie, 2008), gradually moving towards more costly energies depending on their ability to pay for them. This linearity of the “energy ladder” has been challenged by many studies (Horst and Hovorka, 2008; etc.) which show that household energy decisions also depend on cultural factors rooted in everyday life (residents prefer to cook certain foods over charcoal or wood) (Karekezi et al., 2008), according to a phenomenon known as “energy stacking” (Masera et al., 2000). We want to contribute to these discussions by incorporating other more structural factors into the analysis, on the basis of the regulation of the energy supply available, rather than only looking at resident practices, in transitional areas, which have not been given much attention in the literature that generally focuses on rural electrification. Using a socio-technical perspective taken from the “science, technology and society” field, we want to question the temporality of the expansion of the public electricity service, when it follows that of other off-grid systems, which, paradoxically, it does not tend to systematically replace. The purpose will be to understand how the electricity service is extended, in which ways and to what effect in the peripheries of Tanzanian cities. Why do some practices pre-dating the arrival of the network appear paradoxically to last despite the electrification of these areas? Finally, beyond the energy issue, what do these processes tell us about the urban transition of these areas, especially in Tanzania but also more broadly, in terms of social changes for the African city of the future?
5While the electrification of cities appears to be one of the primary drivers of the energy transition, this article adopts the assumption of an “energy diversification”, which is unique to the urban peripheries where different, supposedly antinomical, practices will co-exist in the long term. Drawing on a socio-technical perspective, the term “energy diversification” is particularly based on reflections from the ANR Hybridelec6 programme (focused on the “electrical hybridisations” of large networks with decentralised electricity systems), while extending them beyond the sole issue of electricity to incorporate other off-grid and non-electric sources, whether “traditional”, “modern” or “innovative”, given their importance in practice in everyday life in African cities. We prefer the term “diversification” to hybridisation, which is understood to be similar in meaning to “heterogenization”, which was identified by S. Jaglin and “proceeds by the gradual addition (rather than substitution) of new socio-technical systems that diversify configurations in terms of technologies, stakeholders and scales” (Jaglin, 2019, pp. 8-9). However, while heterogeneity denotes a lack of unity, diversity is understood as a means of apprehending a differentiated yet coherent whole. The assumption of energy diversification is therefore strongly “localised” here in order to emphasise the territorial aspect of the “creolisation” (Edgerton, 2017) of energy sources, which are diverse yet spatially homogeneous, in the intermediate areas in the periphery of Dar Es Salaam. In the context of the energy transition, the hypothesis of “diversification” sets itself apart from assumptions of ‘substitution’ (the electricity network is intended to replace other energy sources, a hypothesis set out by the “energy ladder” model – Horst and Hovorka, 2008) and from the ideas of ‘back-up strategies’ (dysfunctions of the electricity service are off-set by the use of other energy sources), to instead emphasise the expansion of an energy supply with diversified services and uses (similar to the “energy stacking” concept – Masera et al., 2000 – but discussed here on the basis of the regulation of existing supply rather than only focusing on user demand).
6By analysing the mix of diverse energy practices in the periphery of Dar Es Salaam, this research allows in fine reflection about our understanding of specific dynamics in the case of intermediate areas, with the reinforcement of a diffuse urbanisation with moving boundaries, with borders that tend to fade in favour of “urbanisation without a city” (Choplin, 2019, p.85), creating a hybrid in-between land between the city and countryside.
7To answer all these questions and test the hypothesis of “energy diversification” in intermediate areas, many research trips across Dar Es Salaam were carried out between September 2015 and August 2019. These research trips were made possible thanks to the support of two research programmes (a DFG programme on “translating the network ideal” in East Africa7; and then the “Hybridelec” project supported by the ANR, which facilitated comparative analysis with the support of Pauline Glusky, a mapping engineer at IRD PRODIG).
8Initially, the starting point was focused on the local practices of residents, in an approach close to ethnography. Qualitative household surveys were carried out in eighty homes with the help of three assistants from Ardhi University. These surveys focused especially on residents in the urban district of Ilala, which has a diversity of situations, spanning from the historic city centre to the far south-western boundary of Dar Es Salaam. The twenty-six wards in the district were visited and eighty interviews were conducted with households, including thirty-five in three peri-urban areas (Kivule, Chanika, Msongola) where empirical work was more intense at two times pre- and post-electrification between 2017 (before network expansion) and 2019 (during its latest extension phases). These qualitative surveys were then compared with a statistical database created for the occasion, on the basis of the 2012 census by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2012). Census data were disaggregated at ward level for this research thanks to the work of Tanzanian staff at NBS. The maps produced using this data give a new perspective on the energy reality in the Ilala district by portraying the differentiated use of energy sources depending on the ward. Although they do not show other additional and back-up sources, they are a new source of empirical evidence for analysis, to increase the precision of the data collected. The empirical observations and mapping analyses produced were then discussed with governmental energy stakeholders in Dar Es Salaam during interviews at the head and regional offices of the parapublic electricity agency, Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (TANESCO), the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA), ministries, specialised agencies and international donors (Swiss-Japanese cooperation, World Bank and the French Development Agency - AFD). Finally, we refined our initial results by meeting with other energy stakeholders from multiple levels in the private sector, focusing on major industry giants (natural gas, LPG, solar energy) and smaller distributors (charcoal, solar and kerosene), while taking into account more social companies (like Arti-energy) and important think tanks (e.g. TATEDO, which promotes a stronger integration of carbon-based energy). The surveys therefore went well beyond the simple issue of the electricity service to take into account other energy situations that still appear to be the norm in residents’ everyday practices, while electricity seems to have secondary use with the exception of lighting. The aim was to provide an empirical overview of household access to energy in intermediate areas, reinforced by a socio-political multi-level perspective of the sector that determines this access.
9This article starts by presenting the urban expansion of Dar Es Salaam and the means of access to energy in neighbourhoods on the edge of the electricity network through the example of the Ilala district. We then present the electrification programme and its effects in city peripheries, especially in Msongola, located on the southern edge of the district of Ilala. Finally, these observations are then considered in the light of energy governance in Tanzania in order to explain the prevalence of non-electrical energy sources in everyday life for peri-urban populations, not on the basis of their preferences but by addressing the structural factors that explain them.
10Reviewing all of this information, we conclude this article by reiterating the fact that the energy diversification seems to be a process that is strongly interdependent on territorial changes where it is implemented, revealing the transitory and specific nature of the African urbanisation process.
11To study the energy transition in African cities, one must study the continent’s urban transition. Between “rurbanisation” (Berget et al., 1980), “peripheral urbanisation” (Jaillet, Jalabert, 1982) and “planetary urbanisation” (Brenner, 2014), the process of urbanisation is described as intensifying outside of African cities.
- 8 In 2012, the poverty line was set at TZS 36,482 (the equivalent of TZS 48,898 in 2017 taking into a (...)
12Dar Es Salaam is the country’s financial capital, contributing 70% of Tanzania’s GDP, despite significant poverty with 4.1% of the population living below the poverty line in 20128, which had nevertheless fallen 10 points in 5 years (14.1% in 2007) (World Bank, 2015). According to the latest available migration data from 2002, half of residents (49% in 2002) were born in another region, such as Emanuel and Mohammed (1.4% of residents came from another country), and 6.2% had just immigrated between 2001 and 2002. These migrants are generally younger, better educated and move to Dar Es Salaam in the hope of finding better living conditions and job opportunities. The city went from 2.5 million inhabitants in 2002 to 4.4 million in 2012, with a growth rate of +5.6% (NBS, 2006, 2013). This very rapid urban growth reflects the current “urban revolution” of the continent (Parnell, Pieterse, 2014), which is set to have an extra 1.2 billion urban inhabitants by 2050. The urban area is now the most populated in Tanzania, with an estimated population of 6 million in 2020. This strong population growth explains the large spatial expansion of Dar Es Salaam (+133% increase in construction between 2002 and 2011 according to Macchi, Ricci, Congedo and Faldi, 2013). Construction is intensifying in the peripheries of the city, but the landscape remains predominantly rural within this diffuse urbanisation taking the form of “ribbon” development. Administratively, it is the city, but visually it feels like the countryside. Large spaces are left vacant between houses, urban agriculture is an integral part of the city and it is not rare to see herds of cows grazing in the fields. Density is relatively low in Dar Es Salaam, with 3,100 inhabitants per km² across an area of 1,393 km² in 2012 because most houses are single-storey dwellings and housing is disperse in the peripheries.
Figure 1: density of Dar Es Saalam (top). Urbanisation (left). Ilala District (right).
Source: 2012 census. Created by: Pauline Gluski (Ird, Prodig) and Huong Pham
13Urban sprawl has nevertheless long been a characteristic of the city (de Blij, 1963). This urbanisation is based on informal systems or customs and is little regulated, with ¾ of constructions not planned (Kironde, Lusugga, 2006; Kombe, 2005). For example, Emanuel, whom we mentioned in the introduction of this article, came to an arrangement with the ward representatives and the district’s customary chief to buy his land and build his home, without a real construction permit, much like the owner of Mohammed’s room, who built a new extension to rent out another room to migrant workers.
Figure 2: from the city centre to Msongola, very contrasting landscapes within the same city
Legend: higher urban forms in the main city centre (left) compared with more rural landscapes in the peripheries of Dar Es Salaam (right)
14While pressure on urban infrastructure is increasing to meet sustainable development targets, diffuse and unplanned housing in Dar Es Salaam does not facilitate infrastructure implementation (Hill, Huhner, Kreibich, Linder, 2013). In particular, heavy infrastructure (water and sanitation) is primarily limited to the urban centre around former colonial neighbourhoods, and is struggling to be extended into the peripheries farther away. The drinking water network only serves 32.2% of inhabitants (of which only 19.9% have domestic access) and only 14.1% of households are connected to the sewer system. It goes without saying that drinking water pipes belonging to DAWASCO (Dar Es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation) do not extend to Msongola (southernmost part of Ilala district) and no sewer system runs under Kitunda road to evacuate wastewater. However, given its greater malleability, electricity is better distributed, with 63.41% of inhabitants of Dar Es Salaam connected (according to the 2012 census, 80% according to URT, 2019), but only 5.1% of inhabitants in Msongola declare that they use electricity for lighting (286 homes of a total of 5,646 in 2012 according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics – NBS). Although it remains insufficient, coverage is significantly better in Dar than in other Tanzanian cities (where, on average, only 46.3% of urban residents use the electricity network for lighting) and ten times better than in rural areas (5.42%) (data from the latest 2012 census – NBS 2013). (See Table 1 on next page)
15Facing severe financial crises, Tanzania has not obtained the necessary funding to develop its infrastructure networks in the proportions required to keep up with its rapid growth. Centralised electricity production requires heavy investment to fund infrastructure extension. The network lines are not very profitable in peripheral areas with highly dispersed housing. This results in unequal supply with good coverage of the metropolitan centre while more peripheral areas are generally very badly connected like in so many other African cities (Allen, Davila and Hofman, 2006; Mc Granahan Miltin, Satterwhaite, Tacoli and Turok, 2009; Myers 2014; Van Dijk, Etajak, Mwawega and Ssempebwa, 2014).
Figure 3: lighting using the network (Tanesco) or oil lamp in the district of Ilala
Source: according to NBS Census 2012. Created by: Pauline Gluski (Ird, Prodig)
16The district of Ilala illustrates this issue well with the significant use of electricity for lighting in older neighbourhoods where the network was first developed, which declines the farther away one gets from the historic centre (northern-most neighbourhoods on the map) where infrastructure expansion is struggling to keep up with the fast pace of urbanisation.
- 9 Diffuse and discontinuous continuation of suburban area.
17In the areas on the margins of the centralised service in Dar Es Salam, like across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, “‘off-grid’ energy supply is neither a marginal nor provisional phenomenon” (Louvel, de Gromard, 2006, p.164). Many practices from the rural world are still in place, especially in the urban peripheries where the traditional split between city and countryside is blurred in favour of the hybridisation of spaces. In fact, whether we call these intermediate areas “exurban”9 (Bailly, 2006) “suburban” or “rurban”, “traditional analysis wrongly separating cities from countryside are totally outmoded [here]” (Dubresson, Raison, 2003, p.129). The energy sources available here are very diverse and practices are transformed with the urbanisation of lifestyles and the arrival of the centralised network. While the difficulties of extending networks have been well documented, a large amount of work now focuses on critically identifying other existing composite systems (Jaglin, 2019), the stakeholders involved in their supply (Blundo and Le Meur, 2009) and the capacity of inhabitants to implement them (Moretto, Ranzato, 2017).
18The subject of our study, Ilala district, is statistically representative of the situation in Dar Es Salaam in many ways, while the ward of Msongola where Emanuel lives on the edge of the city has a situation very similar to rural areas in Tanzania, both for lighting (Table 1) and cooking (Table 2, p. 18).
Table 1: primary source of lighting in 2012 in Msongola, Ilala, Dar Es Salaam and Tanzania
|
Ward of Msongola
|
District of Ilala
|
Dar Es Salaam
|
Tanzania (Urban)
|
Tanzania
(Rural)
|
Tanzania
|
|
Network electricity (Tanesco)
|
5.1%
|
60.65%
|
63.41%
|
46.23%
|
5.42%
|
18.86%
|
|
Power generator
|
0.73%
|
0.29%
|
022%
|
0.40%
|
0.30%
|
0.33%
|
|
Solar power
|
3.94%
|
0.93%
|
0.71%
|
0.97%
|
1.69%
|
1.45%
|
|
Oil lamps*
|
79.15%
|
31.61%
|
28.76%
|
45.14%
|
68.84%
|
61.4%
|
|
Battery-operated lights
|
7.08%
|
3.7%
|
3.87%
|
4.76%
|
19.88%
|
14.90%
|
|
Candles
|
2.94%
|
2.68%
|
2.91%
|
2.10%
|
0.97%
|
1.34%
|
|
Misc.**
|
1.08%
|
0.12%
|
0.12%
|
0.39%
|
2.91%
|
2.08%
|
Author’s compilation based on 2012 census data from NBS
* All kerosene lights (wick lamps, acetylene, chimney)
** gas, wind and wood
19While awaiting the electricity network, populations have no other choice but to use alternative energy sources, for lighting (candles and especially oil lamps – almost 80% of the population in the ward of Msongola) and for cooking (charcoal for over 71% of inhabitants of Ilala and firewood for ¾ of the population of Msongola) although they are strongly requesting connection the network. Residents are requesting access to affordable energy services and these needs are intensifying with population growth and the emergence of the middle class in Africa (Karekezi, Majoro, 2002). Changes to lifestyles linked to urbanisation and the massification of technologies that operate using electricity (e.g. telephone, radio, television) have increased demand for the electrification of unconnected areas. Kerosene, which once was able to meet lighting needs, is therefore no longer sufficient to meet increasing demand. Residents need to charge their mobile phone at home instead of at a kiosk and they want to watch television or buy a refrigerator. Some residents have sometimes established an autonomous electricity system. While makeshift solutions are developing among less rich residents, such as the transformation of car batteries to charge telephones and generate light at night, there are also more costly installations, such as (diesel-powered) electricity generators, but these are very anecdotal (0.29% in 2012 according to NBS) and solar power systems, also in small numbers, which are nevertheless more quantitatively significant (0.93% in 2012 according to NBS).
20According to NBS, these installations appear extremely limited in the region of Dar Es Salaam (0.22% power generators and 0.71% solar power systems for lighting in 2012, according to NBS, see Table 1) but are still present in some homes in streets not yet connected in southern wards of the district, such as Msongola. Mapping shows these installations in counterpoint to the network, absent in the centre and emerging in the unconnected peripheries.
Figure 4: lighting by power generators and solar power systems in Ilala
Source: according to NBS Census 2012. Created by: Pauline Gluski (Ird, Prodig)
21Power generators are generally used here for very specific uses, such as operating a water storage pump in a deep well, or they are sometimes rented out to power a sound amplification system at occasional celebrations. In the intermediate areas studied, the resale of electricity from a collective power generator was not observed in the form of a mini private network, like in other contexts, especially in Lebanon (see work by Eric Verdeil, such as Verdeil, 2009). As well as the installation cost, the price of diesel, which has been constantly rising since the 1990s, is the main factor discouraging the use of power generators, which remain used very anecdotally in poor neighbourhoods where consumption is limited, in reality, to other spaces, primarily in middle and upper class apartment buildings in the long urbanised city centre. From this point of view, the situation in Dar Es Salaam is almost antinomical to other countries where the petroleum context promotes the use of (diesel-powered) electricity generators in homes due to the low price at the pump for households. The use of secondary or back-up energy sources was not counted by NBS, but would nevertheless show the use of power generators as back-up systems in apartment buildings in condominium neighbourhoods in the historic centre, which are denser and richer than the peripheries.
22Although power generators are rarely seen in the peripheries, the arrival of solar power systems appears to be relatively more significant. In peripheral wards with little or no connection to the central network, the sale of solar power systems has emerged as a possible alternative, but this still remains limited due to the high initial cost and unsatisfactory performance. Moreover, Magufuli’s rise to power in 2015 was accompanied by an increase in import taxes, which further penalised the sales prices of solar power systems, as most components are imported, primarily from China.
23In 2017, a full 100 watt system cost around TSh 650,000 – i.e. €235 – (compared to an average salary of TSh 44,000 – i.e. €16 – in the same period), which could operate a television, radio, set-top box and ten light bulbs. For TSh 900,000 – i.e. €326 – capacity could be increased to 150 watts, which can power an additional small refrigerator. Smaller 15 – 20 watt systems are used to power six light bulbs. The cheapest system available on the market was TSh 80,000 – i.e. €29 – for 5 watts in 2017, which can power three light bulbs and charge a phone. Finally, a power inverter (to covert electrical voltage) needs to be purchased to connect other equipment not specially designed for the system sold. Low voltage electricity does not generally allow households to connect a refrigerator, iron laundry or use a kettle. The importance of solar electricity sources in Dar Es Salaam therefore needs to be put into perspective, as it seems part fantasy for the moment.
24Access to the TANESCO network’s electricity service, which is at a higher electrical voltage than solar power, is easier to use and more durable, remains highly sought-after by the residents of intermediate areas, whether or not they have an autonomous decentralised electrical alternative (solar power or power generator).
- 10 Especially Sweden and Norway.
25The latest pylon installed by TANESCO in Msongola is far from anecdotal and it is not surprising that Emanuel and Mohammed are looking at it with broad smiles. The arrival of the electricity network in peripheral neighbourhoods demonstrates strong political will. The expansion of the centralised network into low-density areas requires costly infrastructure, especially to connect areas at the end of the network, which is not possible without State support. This is why the Rural Energy Agency (REA) was created in 2005, an agency under the Ministry of Energy and Minerals (MEM), responsible for improving access to energy in rural and peri-urban areas. Managed by REA (and funded by international donors10, electricity taxes and petroleum imports), the National Electrification programme (2013-2022) had already connected a total of 1.8 million additional houses to the TANESCO network in 2014, with the aim of reaching 5 million households by 2022 (MEM, 2014).
26This programme is original in that it focuses on reducing the cost of connection (see Table 2), which is a major barrier to network expansion in a country where the poverty line was just TSh 36,482 in 2012 (i.e. €13).
Table 2: cost of domestic connection
|
Cost billed to user (without programme)
|
|
In rural areas
|
In urban areas
|
|
Excl. tax
|
+ 18% VAT
|
TOTAL
|
Excl. tax
|
+ 18% VAT
|
TOTAL
|
|
Up to 30 m from transformer
|
TSh 150,000 (€54)
|
TSh 27,000 (€9)
|
TSh 177,000 (€63)
|
TSh 272,000
(€98)
|
+ TSh 48,960 (€18)
|
TSh 320,960 (€116)
|
|
30 m to 70 m (installation of pylon)
|
TSh 286,220
(€103)
|
TSh 51,519 (€19)
|
TSh 377,739 (€122)
|
TSh 436,964
(€157)
|
+ TSh 78,604 (€29)
|
TSh 515,568 (€186)
|
|
Between 30 m and 70 m (installation of 2nd pylon)
|
TSh 385,300 (€139)
|
TSh 69,354 (€25)
|
TSh 454,654 (€164)
|
TSh 590,398 (€213)
|
+ TSh 106,271 (€39)
|
TSh 696,669 (€252)
|
|
|
Subsidised cost (R.E.A. Programme)
|
|
In rural areas
|
In urban areas
|
|
Excl. tax
|
+ 18% VAT
|
TOTAL
|
Excl. tax
|
+ 18% VAT
|
TOTAL
|
|
Up to 30 m from transformer
|
TSh 0
|
TSh 27,000 (€9)
|
TSh 27,000 (€9)
|
TSh 0
|
TSh 48,960 (€18)
|
TSh 48,960 (€18)
|
|
30 m to 70 m (installation of pylon)
|
TSh 0
|
TSh 51,519 (€19)
|
TSh 51,519 (€19)
|
TSh 0
|
TSh 78,604 (€29)
|
TSh 78,604 (€29)
|
|
Harriet Bond2022-02-03T13:42:00HBBetween 30 m and 70 m (installation of 2nd pylon)
|
TSh 0
|
TSh 69,354 (€25)
|
TSh 69,354 (€25)
|
TSh 0
|
TSh 106,271 (€39)
|
TSh 106,271 (€39)
|
27While the tariff billed by TANESCO for a new connection is TSh 150,000 in rural areas (a tariff that has already been subsidised and does not reflect the real costs), to which TSh 27,000 of VAT is added, making a total of TSh 177,000, the REA programme gives households an almost free connection where they only pay VAT (18%, i.e. TSh 27,000). The REA programme is not really suited to its name as it is not strictly limited to rural areas but also includes some administratively urban areas (see Map of REA scope in Ilala), where the connection costs are theoretically much higher at TSh 272,000 (to which 18% VAT is added, i.e. TSh 48,960) (see Table 2). Under the pressure of the new Tanzanian presidency, in 2017-2018, TANESCO was required to extend the principle of free connection to some unconnected urban areas, through the Mbondole secondary and Kibriko projects, before the official launch of a project that specifically focused on connecting households in “peri-urban” areas. Many wards on the outskirts of Dar Es Salaam have benefited from the programme. For example, in the district of Ilala, this has impacted the southern part of Msongola and Chanika, on the borders of the rural region of Pwani, and also Majohe and Pugu, which are wards closer to the centre but which fall under the geographic scope of the REA (see REA map), where some residents only had to pay the 18% VAT (TSh 48,960 in urban areas) to be connected to the network.
Figure 5: scope of REA in Ilala
Legend: the Rural Energy Agency covers part of Ilala, an urban district in Dar Es Salaam, to accelerate the electrification of wards outside the centre. This scope has led to confusion for some residents in southern Pugu and Msongola who have to go to the rural TANESCO agency in Kisaware outside Dar Es Salaam (instead of the urban agencies in the city centre) (see dotted boundary across Msongola in the south-east and across Pugu in the west).
28The number of connections that can be subsidised depends on the targets set for each project phase depending on the available funding, on a first come, first served basis (the remaining households must then pay for the real cost of connection or wait for a later potential REA project extension phase). The administrative formalities requested by TANESCO under this programme are simplified with just an electrical drawing of the house, without introducing any other conditions, especially relating to land ownership, which could slow down applications. To reduce costs as much as possible, TANESCO uses low-cost technologies (e.g. a single wire for earthing) adopted in cooperation with other electricity companies (such as the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas and Kenya Power Limited Company).
29The REA programme is highly sought after by residents in intermediate areas as it can reduce the already high costs of household electrification. It already costs around TSh 400,000 (i.e. €145) for electrification of the inside of a two-room house, without counting the cost of network connection. However, part of the unconnected urban areas remain outside of the scope theoretically covered by REA. For example, in Kivule (a ward not covered by REA, located north of Msongola), inhabitants are required to pay the full cost of connection even though some wards are very far from the network. Moreover, TANESCO cannot afford to finance connections free of charge beyond a radius of 30 metres from the transformer. In 2019, installation of an additional electricity pylon was still payable by the user, representing TSh 286,220 in rural areas and TSh 436,964 in urban areas up to 70 metres (without VAT at 18%); the installation of two pylons up to 120 metres takes the user bill up to TSh 385,300 in rural areas and TSh 590,398 in urban areas (not including VAT) (see Table 2). Some households far from the TANESCO infrastructure, whether or not they are theoretically covered by REA, implement collective strategies to avoid the full costs of connection, primarily in two ways. First, by waiting for accelerated expansion of the network via a political mediator to avoid having to finance the implementation of several electricity pylons. Second, through neighbourhood cooperation to reduce costs by sharing the collective effort to finance a new TANESCO electricity pylon.
Figure 6: at the end of the network in Msongola
Legend: a TANESCO pylon awaiting connection to the network (Msongola)
30In the first instance, it is about waiting in the hope that one day they will be within the radius of a new TANESCO electricity pylon to benefit from subsidised connection. However, the strategy is less impassive than it may first appear. The ward representatives around Msongola have explained the active role played by their Member of Parliament before the elections by promising better connection of the ward if elected: “we brought together all local inhabitants who wanted to obtain electricity and we sent a signed letter to the MP, which ended up at the TANESCO headquarters” (explained a local representative from Chanika, July 2019). This political mediation facilitated TANESCO’s consideration of these unconnected or poorly connected neighbourhoods.
31In the second instance, close connections with neighbours are a way of reducing the cost of pylon installation when several households cooperate to share the installation costs between them in order to make the infrastructure more affordable. For example, three households in an urban area could come together to reduce the connection cost to just over TSh 100,000 each (i.e. TSh 320,960 in total, including VAT). These arrangements sometimes lead to workaround strategies, where some less well-off neighbours wait for others to finance a TANESCO pylon before connecting in order to avoid having to contribute to the full cost of connection.
32In both instances, these strategies help accelerate expansion of the centralised network in areas far from the urban centre, allowing households to access TANESCO electricity.
33The REA electrification programme has resulted in a fall in firewood consumption (- 8.5%) and charcoal (- 4.3%) and a major drop in kerosene (- 58%) previously used for lighting and cooking (according to the reviews of projects funded by REA, 2018).
34In intermediate areas in Ilala, the long-awaited arrival of the network quickly recomposes energy practices. Network electricity is primarily used there for lighting (therefore substituting kerosene lamps), security (light bulb on overnight outdoors), charging electrical objects (mainly telephones), watching television and listening to the radio, and finally ironing and the refrigerator, replacing other systems that existed before the network, like power generators or solar panels.
35In the words of Neema, a recently connected resident: “Using a power generator cost too much in fuel and as soon as we could invest in this small solar installation, we were able to drastically decrease use of the power generator for a few years. But since you last came round (editor’s note: in 2017, just before arrival of the network) and network connection (editor’s note: in 2019) we barely use either of them except for long power outages” (Neema, August 2019, Msongola).
36The network remains the preferred service for accessing electricity, substituting other pre-existing electricity systems. Given current technological limits, solar alternatives are not as popular as the network. Households able to purchase solar power systems are not always very satisfied due to their limited lifespan. According to users, the batteries available need to be changed every three to five years, on average, despite this generally being the most expensive equipment in the installation. In Msongola, Neema explained to us that she had already had to change the battery several times after a few years of use: “The full 80 watt system cost us TSh 250,000 in 2010 and I had to replace the battery, which costs TSh 175,000, three times” (Neema, Msongola, 2016). When in 2019, Neema was finally connected to TANESCO, her solar power system soon fell into disuse, in the same way that the arrival of solar power had relegated the few pre-existing power generators. Since then, even in the event of a power outage, Neema no longer uses her solar installation and prefers simply lighting a candle or using a battery-powered light. Other households who purchase a solar installation before finally being connected by TANESCO initially try to continue only using it for lighting in order to reduce payments to recharge their electricity meter. However, as the electricity network generally supplies higher-quality and cheaper energy, users generally end up gradually abandoning solar-powered systems.
37As part of this research, the surveys conducted at various specific moments in intermediate neighbourhoods in Ilala between 2015 (before arrival of the network) and 2019 (after arrival of the network) show that the solar market is slowly retreating into areas not yet connected to the network, where demand is higher, and is gradually abandoned in newly connected areas, where it is declining significantly. Network expansion tends to gradually substitute these systems by offering better electricity supply, which remains the preferred option for inhabitants to meet their electricity needs for lighting, telecommunications and television. Similarly, in more remote villages, mini private networks (supplied by generators or solar power) seem destined to disappear with network extension. With TANESCO, engineers from EWURA (Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority) generally implement transitional compensation for operators (interview with EWURA, August 2019), on a case by case basis, with the expansion of transmission infrastructure into remote areas. The managers of mini networks in rural areas should be able to recover their initial investment but are often required to redefine their activity in fine, as it becomes obsolete with the arrival of supply by TANESCO.
Figure 7: diverse offer available in Msongola
Legend: in areas that are still poorly connected in the periphery of Dar Es Salaam, shops sell solar technologies alongside improved cooking stoves (bottom right) to save on the quantity of charcoal consumed while generating less smoke. Solar power systems are primarily targeted at customers not connected to the electricity network, mainly in the rural market, while awaiting TANESCO connection.
38However, in addition to the temporality of network expansion which substitutes pre-existing alternatives, it is important to take into account the transformation of lifestyles, which tends to reinforce the essential nature of continuous electricity supply and the inconvenience of having an intermittent service that gradually comes to be considered vital: “it’s true that we wonder how we managed before! Although I’ve spent my entire life without electricity, since the TANESCO connection, we couldn’t do without it! How could we manage without television and the refrigerator?” (Patrick, resident of Kivule, ward north of Msongola, August, 2019).
39This other temporality of the transformation of lifestyles that accompanies urbanisation and electrification could lead to the resurgence of alternative electricity systems as back-up systems. It does seem plausible in the medium term that the market of electricity back-up systems could grow more intensely in order to offset deficiencies in the electricity network in connected areas. This is common in central and older parts of the city where greater population density and the middle class lifestyle have promoted a more visible hybridisation process. In Ilala, in the oldest neighbourhoods connected to the network, where significant commercial activity has developed and residential housing is dense (especially in the most central parts of Kivukoni), the use of power generators as a collective “back-up system” is more widespread than in the peripheries (but not counted in the census as it is a secondary source). The REA assessment (Ministry of Energy, 2018) also noted that in some now connected rural areas, diesel consumption has tended paradoxically to increase, probably because of an increase in the use of power generators to offset power outages. However, this is not true in peripheral areas, partially due to the prohibitive cost of diesel and batteries which prevents the use of these energy sources, and also because the lack of housing density does not facilitate the implementation of collective back-up systems. This situation appears more probable in the houses and apartment buildings in the richest parts of Dar Es Salaam, where they are used as back-up systems. This use is anecdotal at city level, but could prove problematic in the long term due to the potential emancipation it offers from the TANESCO network, and the tariff redistribution policies it calls into question (see Dubresson, working document Hybridelec, 2019).
40Although the arrival of the network quickly substitutes other “off-grid” electricity systems (power generators and solar power), which are more expensive and less efficient than the network supply, it does not substitute all other energy practices. To question the temporality of the effects of the network, it is useful to compare recently connected peripheral neighbourhoods with those located around the city centre that have been connected for a long time. This shows that just because a household is connected to the electricity network, it is not necessarily used for all domestic uses, such as cooking. Cooking is emblematic of potentially interchangeable energy use between electrical equipment (hob, oven or electrical microwave) and non-electrical equipment (wood-fired, gas, charcoal or paraffin stove) (see Table 2).
Table 2: primary source for cooking in 2012 in Msongola, Ilala, Dar Es Salaam and Tanzania
|
Ward of Msongola
|
District of Ilala
|
Dar Es Salaam
|
Tanzania (Urban)
|
Tanzania
(Rural)
|
Tanzania
|
|
Network electricity (Tanesco)
|
0 %
|
8.48%
|
7.19%
|
4.17%
|
0.19%
|
1.5%
|
|
Power generator
|
0 %
|
0.026%
|
0.04%
|
0.07%
|
0.04%
|
0.05%
|
|
Solar-powered system
|
0.55%
|
0.09
|
0.06%
|
0.07%
|
0.06%
|
0.06%
|
|
Paraffin/kerosene
|
2.5%
|
6.02%
|
6.72%
|
5.34%
|
1.01%
|
2.43%
|
|
Charcoal
|
21.36%
|
71.36%
|
73.81%
|
62.34%
|
7.77%
|
25.74%
|
|
Wood
|
75.23%
|
7.98%
|
6.63%
|
24.55%
|
90.23%
|
68.60%
|
|
Gas
|
0.37%
|
6.01%
|
3.94%
|
2.43%
|
0.16%
|
0.91%
|
|
Misc.*
|
0%
|
0.03%
|
0.05%
|
0.14%
|
0.40%
|
0.69%
|
*wind, agricultural residues, n.a.
Figure 8: primary sources of energy for cooking in Ilala
Source: according to NBS Census 2012. Created by: Pauline Gluski (Ird, Prodig)
41In 2012, while 60.65% of the population of Ilala used TANECO electricity for lighting, only 8.5% cooked using electricity, barely more than in Dar Es Salaam (7.19% in 2012). However, in 1990, 39% cooked using electrical hobs in Dar Es Salaam thanks to highly subsidised tariffs (ESMAP, 1987, Hosnier Kipondya, 1993). Using an electrical cooker for three hours a day corresponds to 135 kWh per month (Choumert, Combes Motel, Le Roux, 2018) and in 1992, domestic users could benefit from a very advantageous “lifeline tariff” of up to 1000 kWh per month, which, in reality, was the equivalent of 2500 kWh given the decline in tariffs due to high inflation (Hosier and Kipondya, 1993). The “lifeline” subsidy was reduced from 1000 kWh to 500 kWh in 1995, then to 100 kWh in 2002 and then to just 50 kWh in 2005. It remains today at 75 kWh at the tariff of TSh 100 per kWh, beyond which it increases to TSh 292 per kWh. With these very high tariff increases, households ended up abandoning the use of electricity to meet domestic needs when it was interchangeable with other less expensive fuels. In Ilala, large disparities can be observed which reflect the social geography of the city - in more central neighbourhoods, over half cook using electrical hobs in the richer city centre (see wards in the north of the district on the map above), but they are used very little in the rest of the city which is poorer (most households cook using charcoal, LPG, kerosene (paraffin) or firewood in the south of the district). According to a study carried out in 2017 (Ministry of Energy 2018), the richest households tended to consume twice as much electricity, spending an average of TSh 10,056 (€3.60), than poorer households spending an average of just TSh 5,651 (€2). The universal roll-out of prepayment LUKU meters (Lipa Umeme Kadri Unavyotumia – “Pay-as-you-go electricity”) has facilitated “rationed calculation” (Baptista, 2016, referring to Mozambique) in users in terms of “money-kWh-time” in a country where TANESCO was a pioneering company in the field by installing them as early as 1993 (first in middle class neighbourhoods with high electricity consumption before extending them to the entire city). Unlike the disputes that they tend to provoke in precarious neighbourhoods in many other Sub-Saharan cities (see Bercegol, Monstadt, 2018), this payment method is generally well accepted in Dar Es Salaam, including in poorer households who appreciate being able to control their consumption by avoiding debt.
Figure 9: tools for controlling household electricity consumption
Legend: with the prepayment meter, energy-saving bulbs are highly sought-after by users looking to ration their consumption
42Beyond this Tanzanian case study of the district of Ilala, in many cities (in Africa but also in South-East Asia), inhabitants connected to the electricity service generally prefer to use other less expensive energy sources for cooking, such as firewood and charcoal, with electricity use for this remaining minimal. Greater connection to the electricity network therefore does not necessarily result in the disappearance of other less expensive everyday energy sources, such as charcoal or kerosene.
Figure 10: everyday importance of kerosene for lighting and cooking
Legend: whether for lighting (left) or cooking (middle), the advantage of kerosene is that is can be divided up, meaning that small quantities can be purchased daily (right) as needed.
43Although the use of kerosene is tending to decline due to increased costs (following privatisation of the petroleum sector in 2002), consumption still remains relatively high, especially in modest households in the city centre. Kerosene remains the most used energy source in Tanzania for lighting, and is second after charcoal for cooking (Maliti, Mnenwa, 2011). Its use was long promoted by the government via subsidised purchase prices to facilitate access to energy and reduce the use of biomass. For years, the relatively affordable nature of kerosene promoted its use, not just for lighting, which is still used in practice, but also for cooking, which has since tended to decline in favour of charcoal.
44Charcoal is considered to be better energy than firewood as its combustion produces less smoke, is easier to use and less dangerous (Van der Plas, 1995). Migrations into cities nearly always result in firewood being replaced by charcoal (Hosier and Kipondya, 1993). With urbanisation, firewood, which is still majoritarily used in villages, has widely been replaced in cities by charcoal, which is less bulky and produces less smoke. In Dar Es Salaam, the transformation of household lifestyles, with a smaller household size (which leads to more individualised consumption) and the increase in institutional and commercial consumers (like restaurants) has further contributed to increased demand. In Ilala, in particular, the use of charcoal is far from marginal and is the norm, not just limited to less wealthy households. Contrary to popular belief, charcoal is not necessarily “the energy of the poor” (Arnold et Al. 2006; Wood and Baldwin, 1985) - given that charcoal is used by the majority of the urban population, this would suggest that charcoal consumption involves a very varied share of the population (as shown on the map, charcoal is used in most districts). In Ilala, the vast majority of households have a charcoal stove that they use as their primary means of cooking, even in middle class neighbourhoods as they find it more practical: “you know, the advantage of charcoal over electricity is not just its cost. It’s also because there are never any untimely outages!” (according to a resident of Mchikicheni, a middle-class neighbourhood close to the city centre).
45The case of Ilala is very representative here of Tanzanian cities where charcoal is the norm, with around 70% of households using charcoal as the principal energy source for cooking. Tanzania consumes around 1 million tonnes of charcoal per year, half of which in Dar Es Salaam. For both the richest and poorest populations, cooking using charcoal reduces electricity consumption and saves it for other more valued uses. Therefore, in practice, the absolute number of charcoal users tends paradoxically to increase with urban growth, although the relative proportion per resident may decline in favour of other energy sources (IEA, 2009), like electricity.
46However, prices have increased significantly in recent years due to higher taxes imposed by the government, along with inflation following successive devaluation policies combined with higher taxation of this energy seen as undesirable by the government - in 2019, it cost between 1,000 and 3,000 Shillings for a bag, compared to 300 to 500 Shillings in 2005. This price increase is requiring poorer households to ration their charcoal consumption, sometimes in favour of other reclaimed fuels (dry waste, coconut leaves), but above all, they maximise charcoal use through improved cooking stoves (JIKO) and by saving money by sharing with neighbours, which is facilitated by dense urban housing. In Buruguni, a poor ward close to the city centre, Karim Mohamed (a ward representative) explains that: “a small pack of charcoal costing TSh 1,500 can be shared between several families. After a family has finished cooking, the same charcoal stove is used by the neighbours” (Karim Mohamed, Burugini, February 2017). Charcoal is bought almost daily and has the advantage of being available in small quantities, which corresponds to the limited monetary resources of households (Bacon et al., 2010). In Tanzania, cooking is very gendered and is entrusted to female members of the family, who have a very reduced decision-making power. They do not work and are dependent on the limited financial resources allocated by their husband for cooking. With an average of TSh 2,000 to 5,000 per day, they therefore have to limit themselves to the most affordable energies. In most households, daily needs (charcoal, kerosene, salt, food, oil) are bought in small quantities. Finally, the relatively low cost of improved cooking stoves (like “JIKO”, which reduces smoke and the quantity of fuel required) further promote the use of charcoal.
47Although charcoal plays an important role in domestic energy savings, Tanzania’s energy policies prioritise electrification to reduce energy poverty. The Tanzanian government considers charcoal to be an undesirable energy source: “it is not a modern energy source, it is harmful to human health and is contributing to the deforestation of our country. Through higher taxation and increased controls, we want to discourage distributors, and indirectly the population, from continuing to purchase charcoal” (MoEF representative responsible for this issue, July 2019). It was estimated several years ago that a 1% increase in the urban population in Tanzania would result in a 14% increase in wood consumption (see Hoser and Kipondya, 1993). Common sense would attribute deforestation to the development of charcoal, but the reality seems more complex. Studies on this topic tend to show that regulating charcoal production and consumption is the most likely to limit forest degradation by promoting regeneration: “the government makes a quick and false link between deforestation and charcoal, but this is not right. Regulated production and controlled combustion are a way of ensuring energy for the highest number while ensuring the renewal of a very abundant resource in Tanzania that is convenient and affordable, and would help the country break free from petroleum dependency” (Mr Estomih. N. Sawe, Director of TaTEDO, February 2017). The decentralisation reforms have allowed local municipalities to better manage their resources, especially forests, while supporting a dynamic economic sector. Some believe that converting forests into agricultural land and livestock farming are the main factors causing deforestation (May–Tobin, 2009), which indirectly contributes to charcoal production (by carbonising felled trees), and that this supply is creating the demand in a context of more expensive alternatives (LPG and electricity). Moreover, it is estimated that the charcoal sector that supplies Dar Es Salaam generates 350 million dollars (more than coffee and tea, two major growth sectors) and jobs for over one hundred thousand people (World Bank, 2009).
48The charcoal consumed in Ilala comes from outside Dar Es Salaam and is imported from the district of Kisarawe, an adjoining region south of the city where the “Cholechole” forest is located, the Tanga region (Kwedikwazu forest) further north, Morogoro and Dodoma in the east, and the Mtwara region in the south (and Kazimzumbwi forest). Peripheral areas therefore favour charcoal consumption due to their proximity to production sites.
Figure 11: traditional firewood and charcoal cooking methods
Legend: whether wood or more commonly charcoal, so-called “traditional” fuels remain very important in everyday life as they are easy to access (available in the entire city and affordable (especially in peripheral areas that are closer to forest production areas))
49Tanzanian energy policy aims to reduce the use of charcoal, which is considered polluting and a source of deforestation, in favour of electricity and now also LPG, after a time of favouring the use of kerosene. Butane gas (LPG) has tended to gradually spread in recent years, in particular due to transformations in culinary practices (quick-cook rice has replaced tubers which take a long time to cook), a reduction in household size (charcoal is more appropriate for large families). However, unlike charcoal, LPG has to be purchased in large canisters (problem of “indivisibility”) and many households cannot afford it at any one given time (Cowan and Mohlakoana, 2005). The private sector, majoritarily foreign, has understood this and has started to propose smaller canisters and to implement finance mechanisms (e.g. micro loans) to promote the acquisition and use of equipment. Moreover, at the regulator level, this substitution by LPG remains questionable given the dependency on producing countries for imports (Arnold et al., 2006; Maes and Verbist, 2012). As explained by an officer at EWURA, the government’s difficulty in implementing LPG import regulations (“LPG Bulk Strategy”), which has been under negotiation for several years, is proof of the tension generated by these imported energies. Despite its advantages, LPG does not allow for energy autonomy and remains, like oil, dependent on international fluctuations. Autonomous electricity production therefore remains the country’s priority. The development of the gas-to-electricity project as part of the National Natural Gas Infrastructure Project (NNGIP) to transport considerable natural gas reserves from Mnazi Bay and Songo Songo to Dar Es Salaam via a 532 km pipeline completed in 2015 could, in the future, free TANESCO from costly petroleum imports and imports and independent electricity producers, which are worsening its debt problem. However, for these costly infrastructure projects to be financially viable, Tanzania will need to establish an export market to make operations profitable. In the meantime, electricity tariffs will remain too high to incite households to abandon other energy sources, contributing to the reinforcement of everyday energy diversification in practices, depending on the uses.
50Finally, as an affordable and easily available source firmly rooted in everyday practices, charcoal is resisting substitution by more expensive electricity and LPG whose initial equipment costs (purchase of gas cooker and gas cylinder) are limiting its reach. Too high costs explain why, unlike electrical services (radio, television, telephone), domestic needs, such as cooking, and catering outlets are still happy to primarily use biomass energy, even when electricity or LPG are available.
51Let us conclude this article by returning to Emanuel and Mohammed, our two protagonists in Msongola waiting for their dala dala on the Kitunda road that will take them towards central Dar Es Salaam. These two residents illustrate the specifics of African urbanisation and energy diversification in the peripheries.
52Like Emanuel or Mohammed, many live in this intermediate area between the city and the countryside, which is more affordable than the city centre but still close to the job opportunities offered by the country’s economic capital. Urbanisation here is different to Western countries. In particular, it is more diffuse, less dense and somewhat precarious, which explains the long and difficult implementation of technical network services, which is accentuated by a lack of funding. Their neighbourhood, Msongola, on the southern edge of the district of Ilala, is symptomatic of the rapid expansion of the peripheries of African cities, with which infrastructure struggles to keep pace.
53In these neighbourhoods that are still poorly connected to the electricity network, non-electric energy sources dominate for both cooking and lighting, and are part of everyday life for the vast majority of inhabitants. Given the demographic importance of this population, one might say that it is not living on the margins of the network, but instead the network only currently serves part of society (Louvel, Gromard 2007). The energy transition does not only depend on residents’ practices, but, above all, on the availability and regulation of energy sources, with regard to both their physical and social accessibility.
54Like Emanuel who is dreaming of electricity at home, TANESCO’s electricity service is highly sought after by residents. Although the extension of electricity lines into remote areas is gradually improving (and more quickly than other technical services such as sanitation), it nevertheless requires the implementation of heavy and costly infrastructure (transformers, high-voltage lines, pylons) which is difficult for households to afford. Some residents attempt to organise themselves into groups to reduce connection costs by sharing network extension costs or by using political mediators to accelerate line deployment. However, these investments are not possible at a larger scale without strong state support via government programmes for mass electrification. “Big Result Now” “Umeme kwa Vote (electricity for all)” and “Development Vision 2025” are all examples of political projects demonstrating the will of governments to support universal network access. It is this strong political pressure, which has been heightened since President Magufuli’s rise to power, that has given unconnected urban areas connection subsidies via the Rural Energy Agency (REA).
55At the end of the network, in these transitional areas, the arrival of electricity contributes to the transformation of lifestyles by promoting the “diversification” of energy practices. For recently connected residents, untimely outages are not yet as unbearable as in city centre neighbourhoods. In Msongola, people simple use candles and oil or battery-powered lamps until the electricity is restored. The use of more costly back-up systems (such as power generators) can be observed in the houses and apartment buildings in the richest denser neighbourhoods in Dar Es Salaam, rather than in the poorer peripheries. First, the high cost of battery equipment and diesel limits their acquisition; second, low-density housing makes collective use difficult; and finally, the long-term installation of domestic solar power systems (net-metering) requires investment capacities beyond what the majority of the population can afford. There are a few solar power systems and power generators in the wealthiest households in these areas but this remains anecdotal compared to the mass use of kerosene lamps for lighting or charcoal for cooking.
56In addition to the temporality of lifestyles becoming more urban in the peripheries with the arrival of electricity, another factor to consider is regulation of the available supply. In this sense, it is striking to see how the use of electricity for cooking has declined since the 1990s, despite a constant increase in the number of connections, due to TANESCO tariff increases. Individual control of electricity consumption, facilitated by the implementation of prepayment meters, has led households to make very strategic choices where they favour electricity for lighting and use less expensive fuels whenever possible for other domestic uses. Structural factors, such as the location and density of a neighbourhood, the availability and cost of domestic electricity, and the regulation of other fuels, help determine the everyday use of available energy supplies, which are tending to become more diverse in practices. Electrification of the peripheries extends the offer of energy services (access to a refrigerator, television or light bulbs) but does not necessarily substitute pre-existing energies (with the use of kerosene for lighting and rapid cooking, or charcoal which remains particularly important).
57The energy future of Tanzanian cities will therefore be determined in practice with non-conventional systems in terms of the energy transition, and not just via electricity. The peripheries of Dar Es Salaam clearly demonstrate socio-spatial transformations, between rural and urban living, which results in the greater diversification of energy sources in the long term. At the city level, while the electricity network is slowly becoming universal, the co-existence of different practices betrays the social geography of a developing major city, with exocentric neighbourhoods where people still widely use kerosene for lighting, while people have long been cooking using electricity in the city centre. All things considered, the broad smiles on Mohammed’s and Emanuel’s faces when looking enviously at the latest TANESCO pylon would suggest that the fixed borders of the city are being erased, with neighbourhoods still awaiting the electricity line to symbolically connect them to the rest of the city centre, while remaining far away in practice.
Flux RSS
