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Abstract Despite widespread electrification in sub-Saharan Africa, the transition from biomass to electric cooking remains slow, with significant environmental and health consequences. In addition, households often engage in fuel stacking rather than fully transitioning to cleaner technologies. This study builds on a previously registered randomized controlled trial conducted in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 90% of households rely on charcoal despite having access to electricity. The initial experiment tested whether combining subsidized induction stoves with Payments for Environmental Services (PES) could increase electric cooking usage. In this extension, we introduce a higher-value PES treatment to assess whether stronger financial incentives affect stove usage. The intervention is randomized among a subset of households from the original treatment arms using stratified cluster randomization. Stove usage is measured using Stove Use Monitors. Results will inform the scalability of PES-based approaches and the potential of carbon finance to directly incentivize clean cooking adoption. Despite widespread electrification in sub-Saharan Africa, the transition from biomass to electric cooking remains slow, with significant environmental and health consequences. In addition, households often engage in fuel stacking rather than fully transitioning to cleaner technologies. This study builds on a previously registered randomized controlled trial conducted in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 90% of households rely on charcoal despite having access to electricity. The initial experiment tested whether combining subsidized induction stoves with Payments for Environmental Services (PES) could increase electric cooking usage. In this extension, we introduce a higher-value PES treatment to assess whether stronger financial incentives affect stove usage. The intervention is randomized among the households who purchased a stove in the initial experiment, using stratified cluster randomization. Stove usage is measured using Stove Use Monitors. Results will inform the scalability of PES-based approaches and the potential of carbon finance to directly incentivize clean cooking adoption.
Last Published March 23, 2026 07:57 AM April 01, 2026 05:34 AM
Planned Number of Clusters 170 spatial clusters (groups of households living 75m or less from each other). Total: 448 households. Cluster size: between 1 and 24 households. 156 spatial clusters (groups of households living 75m or less from each other). Total: 373 households. Cluster size: between 1 and 21 households.
Planned Number of Observations 448 households grouped in 170 spatial clusters. Each household is an observation for stove usage. 373 households grouped in 156 spatial clusters. Each household is an observation for stove usage.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms About 85 clusters high PES and 85 clusters control (no high PES). About 78 clusters high PES and 78 clusters control (no high PES).
Power calculation: Minimum Detectable Effect Size for Main Outcomes Using daily stove-use data over the 3-month initial intervention period and accounting for cluster-level variation in kWh consumption across 170 spatial clusters (448 households), the study is powered to detect a minimum effect of approximately 0.20–0.25 kWh per day (about 25–30% of mean usage) at a 5% significance level and 80% power. Using daily stove-use data from the initial intervention and accounting for cluster-level variation in kWh consumption across 156 spatial clusters (373 households), the study is powered to detect a minimum effect of approximately 0.20–0.25 kWh per day (about 25–30% of mean usage) at a 5% significance level and 80% power.
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