Solar Lantern Program: Sensitization and willingness to pay by rural households in Ghana

Last registered on April 16, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Solar Lantern Program: Sensitization and willingness to pay by rural households in Ghana
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013345
Initial registration date
April 12, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 16, 2024, 3:18 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information

Primary Investigator

Name
Hamdiyah Alhassan
Affiliation
Lecturer
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Isaac Doku
PI Affiliation
University of Education, Winneba, Ghana
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Ishaque Mahama
PI Affiliation
SD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, Wa, Ghana
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Oyeteju Odufuwa
PI Affiliation
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Isabelle Cohen
PI Affiliation
Evans School of Public Policy & Governance, University of Washington
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-04-22
End date
2025-02-03
Keywords
Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Ghanaians in rural, poor and difficult to reach communities face major disparities when it comes to access to electricity: 27% of households lack access, five times higher than rates in urban areas. Ghana launched the Solar Lantern Promotion Program (SLPP) in 2013 to increase access to modern, affordable, and dependable energy services by replacing kerosene lanterns with solar lanterns. Consequently, expanding the SLPP’s subsidy model to meet the distribution goals for 2030 must begin with an evaluation of beneficiaries’ willingness to pay for solar lanterns. However, research on willingness to pay for solar lanterns, and the effects of sensitization and favorable payment options, remains limited.

This project seeks to answer the following questions: 1. How much are Ghanaians in targeted communities willing to pay for solar lanterns? 2. How is willingness to pay affected by: a) financial and health sensitization and b) flexible payment ?The population of interest will be rural households in northern Ghana who are not connected to the national grid. The Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) bidding mechanism will be used to elicit WTP. To estimate the willingness to pay level of Ghanaians for solar lanterns, the mean and median WTP will be evaluated using descriptive statistics analysis. We will use multivariate regression to evaluate the impact of the interventions on households’ willingness to pay for solar lantern.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Alhassan, Hamdiyah et al. 2024. "Solar Lantern Program: Sensitization and willingness to pay by rural households in Ghana." AEA RCT Registry. April 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13345-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

There is information in this trial unavailable to the public. Use the button below to request access.

Request Information
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our first goal is to assess the willingness to pay (WTP) of SLPP target beneficiaries for the ZM solar lantern. Second, we will assess how WTP responds to sensitization and flexible payment options by randomly assigning households to one of two treatment groups or a control group. The Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) bidding mechanism will be used to elicit WTP. The BDM technique asks each participate to state the price they would be willing to pay for the solar lantern. We will then draw a price between zero and fifty Ghana cedis. If the drawn price is less than or equal to the stated price, the participant can purchase the lantern at the drawn price. If the drawn price is more than the stated price, the participant will not be able to purchase the lantern in the survey (Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak, 1964).

The health and financial sensitization treatment will be done before the distribution of the solar lanterns to make respondents aware of their benefits. Sensitization will focus on health and financial benefits of using solar lantern, which include, less exposure to household air pollution, prevention of stroke, lung cancer and heart diseases among women and children, and saving money from no energy bills.

To assess the importance of liquidity constraints, we will test the sensitivity of WTP to offering payment in weekly installments. Households in the installment treatment will pay 20% of the bid price as a down payment, and the remaining 80% in weekly installments.

The treatment groups will be defined as follows:
Treatment 1 (T1): WTP elicited after sensitization, respondents offered only full payment option.
Treatment 2 (T2): WTP elicited after sensitization, respondents offered full payment or weekly installment options.
Control (C): WTP elicited without sensitization, respondents offered only full payment option.
Intervention Start Date
2024-04-22
Intervention End Date
2024-05-10

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Willingness to pay
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
None
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
None

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
To identify the effects of health and financial sensitization and a flexible payment option on willingness to pay, we will randomly assign households into one of two treatment groups or a control group. The first treatment group, T1, will receive only sensitization; the second, T2, will receive both sensitization and the option for weekly installment payments. In the control group, C, we will elicit WTP without sensitization or flexible payment options. Comparing T1 to C will tell us the effects of sensitization on WTP. Comparing T2 to T1 will tell us the effects of a flexible payment option on WTP. Comparing T2 to C will tell us the effects of both sensitization and a flexible payment option on WTP. This strategy will allow us to identify the impact of the interventions on how much households are willing to pay for solar lanterns in rural Ghana.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Individual-level randomization
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1098 households
Sample size: planned number of observations
1098 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Household-level randomization will be used to assign treatments and control groups: 366 households will be assigned to treatment arm TI, 366 to treatment arm T2 and 366 individuals to the control arm C. In total, 1,098 participants will be surveyed and randomized over the course of the study.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
We will enroll 1,098 households for measurement of mean willingness to pay. Assuming power of 80%, an alpha of 0.05, and a standard deviation of a standard deviation of Gh 4.78 cedis, this sample will allow for a minimum detectable effect of Gh 0.99 cedis in any two-way comparison. Correspondingly, we will be powered to detect even small changes induced by sensitization and payment sensitivity.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University for Development Studies Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2024-02-09
IRB Approval Number
UDS/RB/006/24
Analysis Plan