As of 2016, 23.5% of Rwandan households have access to electricity through the grid and 5.1% have through off-grid energy solutions, mostly off-grid solar solutions. Based on MTF definition of access, 26.8% of Rwandan households have been assessed as having basic access to electric services. Access to electricity is mostly a rural challenge: 77.4% of urban households are in Tier 1 or above compared with 15.6% of rural households in the same categories.
To learn more about energy access in Rwanda, download MTF’s Country Diagnostic Report, here.
According to the MTF survey in 2016, almost all of Rwandan households (99.6%) cook with biomass, and a third of households use an improved cookstove as their primary stove; more than half of households use a three-stone stove, mainly burning firewood. Urban and rural households have different cooking patterns. Urban households cook predominantly with charcoal (63.4%), followed by firewood (34.1%) while rural households mostly cook with firewood (94.7%). Based on MTF tier analysis, in Rwanda, more than 95% of households (98.9%) are in Tier 2 or below.
To learn more about energy access in Rwanda, download MTF’s Country Diagnostic Report, here.