E-Paper
70% households in Uttar Pradesh use LPG as primary cooking fuel: CEEW
54% of households continue to use solid fuels, either exclusively or by stacking them with LPG. These findings are based on data collected from over 1,500 households in 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh
LUCKNOW More than 70% of the households in Uttar Pradesh (UP) use LPG as their primary cooking fuel and 85% have LPG connections, according to a recent independent study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). However, 54% of households continue to use solid fuels, either exclusively or by stacking them with LPG. These findings are based on data collected from over 1,500 households in 16 districts of the state.
Using solid fuels such as firewood, dung cakes, agriculture residue, and charcoal for cooking increases exposure to indoor air pollution in such households. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Ujjwala 2.0, aimed at providing free LPG connections to 1 crore poor and migrant families in the country.
CEEW senior programme lead Shalu Agrawal said, “The government deserves credit for its efforts to expand clean cooking energy access, primarily through the first phase of Ujjwala. But 15% of households in the state still lack LPG connections. Phase II of Ujjwala should focus on bridging the coverage gap through targeted beneficiary identification, improved enrolment processes, and awareness campaigns.”
“Districts like Etawah, Mahoba, and Mainpuri, where LPG penetration is especially low, deserve particular attention. Further, policymakers should prioritise reinstating LPG refill subsidies to wean consumers away from solid fuels, which disproportionately impact the health of women and children,” Agrawal added.
CEEW’s findings are from the India Residential Energy Survey (IRES) 2020, conducted in collaboration with the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy (ISEP). The findings indicated that LPG coverage in UP is better than Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal— but poorer than 13 other IRES states.
The CEEW study also highlighted that LPG coverage is particularly low in districts like Etawah, Mahoba, Mainpuri, Pratapgarh and Sultanpur. Further, around one-fourth of households in these five districts use only solid fuels for cooking.
The CEEW study highlighted that 93% of UP households, which use solid fuels along with LPG, cite high cylinder costs as one of their reasons for stacking fuels. This finding is significant in the context of the ongoing surge in LPG prices, which have risen by Rs240 per cylinder (a 40% hike) over the past one year.
Lower household incomes during the pandemic and the suspension of LPG subsidies in May 2020 have made cooking gas unaffordable for a section of the population. Other reasons for fuel stacking including a preference for cooking on chulhas, the availability of free biomass, and the limited availability of LPG refills.
The CEEW study recommends incentivising rural distributors to improve home delivery of LPG. This is particularly important in UP, where only 28% of rural LPG-using households have cylinders delivered at home.
For rural households in Basti, Pratapgarh, Sitapur, and Sultanpur districts, this number falls to less than 10 per cent.
Sunil Mani, Programme Associate, CEEW, and lead author of the study, said, “Given the high social costs of using solid fuels for cooking, we must strive to make LPG affordable and accessible through timely home delivery. The government should consider diverse strategies to disburse subsidies to deserving households.”
