Announcing: the new Tanzania eCooking Scale and Support Programme

By Dr Anna Clements (Gamos Ltd.)

MECS is delighted to announce that the new Tanzania eCooking Scale and Support Programme is now up and running and paving the way for a sustained transition to eCooking. 

Given the national prioritisation of clean cooking, huge strides in electricity access and renewable electricity generation, and the recently released multi-fuel National Clean Cooking Strategy (2024-2034), the time is ripe for eCooking uptake in Tanzania. While the Government of Tanzania implements the National Clean Cooking Strategy, MECS is supporting on the eCooking side. Working closely with the Ministry of Energy, the new UKAid-funded programme pledges £3.5m to support the scaling of eCooking across Tanzania, running from 2024-2026. This blog post describes the new programme and explains how it supports the Government of Tanzania’s agenda to accelerate access to clean Cooking.

But first – why does eCooking make so much sense in Tanzania? Consider the following:

• The recent African Union report, with a foreword by Her Excellency Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan, President of the United Republic of Tanzania, says that clean cooking responses should be contextually specific to the country. With ongoing commissioning of the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant, Tanzania’s electricity generation surplus is increasing, and generation is becoming increasingly renewable.
• The Rural Energy Agency has made great strides in increasing access to electricity (TANESCO now have 5 million customers) and TANESCO continues to strengthen transmission and distribution. We can build off this investment in electricity access for the clean cooking challenge by supporting eCooking.
• Electricity for cooking is not imported so is a secure supply option.
• Cooking on modern eCooking appliances (such as electric pressure cooker, rice cooker, induction hob, air fryer) is affordable – a day of cooking can cost just 700 TSH (200 TSH for those on the lifeline tariff), saving money compared to charcoal, LPG, and other paid-for alternatives.

• Previous studies have highlighted the convenience, time saved, and positive environmental and climate change impact of eCooking, and shown that all Tanzanian dishes can be cooker on a combination of modern eCooking appliances.

At MECS, we think that there needs to be a ‘jigsaw’ of pieces in place in a country to enable a cooking transition, and since beginning work in Tanzania in 2018, we have built up a thorough understanding of what pieces are missing to enable scaled uptake. The 6 components under the programme span the 3 jigsaw areas (enabling environment, supply chain, and consumer demand) and also align with 6 of the Specific Objectives (SO) of the National Strategy – awareness (SO1), access to materials and infrastructure (SO2), affordability (SO3), policies, laws and regulations (SO4), investment (SO5), capacity building (SO6).

The 6 workstreams are:

National eCooking Awareness Raising Campaign

As many people are unaware that eCooking is affordable and viable, professional Tanzanian marketing organisation, Fern Consulting, are undertaking a National Awareness Campaign informed by a marketing study to truly understand how to market eCooking in Tanzania. This campaign, having been endorsed by the Ministry of Energy, will align with the Ministry’s National Clean Cooking Communication Strategy, and will be a high-level campaign using social media, influencers, radio, TV and other mediums to spread the word about eCooking.  

TANESCO eCooking Programme

We are delighted to be supporting TANESCO and knowledge partner TaTEDO-SESO to promote eCooking to TANESCO staff and customers. This workstream will have a significant impact on affordability – TANESCO will be facilitating their customers to purchase eCooking appliances through on-bill financing. Customers, after paying a deposit, will pay gradually for their appliance through a percentage taken from the electricity tokens purchased for their prepayment electricity meters. We can’t wait for this system to enable millions more households to obtain an appliance and start making savings on their long-term cooking costs.

eCooking in Schools (SEforALL and WFP)

We are supporting the World Food Programme (WFP) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), through their project: Accelerating a Clean Cooking Transition in Schools. Starting with 50 schools, but with a target of 200, SEforALL and WFP are partnering with the National Carbon Monitoring Centre to explore how carbon financing can support transitioning government run primary schools to eCooking.

Repair and Maintenance

As eCooking grows, more trained technicians will be needed to fix any issues and maintain the appliances. We are developing a curriculum to train technicians to repair and maintain eCooking appliances, and we will be working with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, VETA and NACTVET to get this curriculum in national syllabuses. Meanwhile, FixChap, a start-up in Dar es Salaam, is networking trained technicians using their app and call centre – an uber for technicians. FixChap will connect customers needing a technician with someone nearby with the necessary skills, making it easy for customers to get the help they need.

Quality and Standards

As demand grows, it’s important that customers can be confident that they can access high-quality appliances. We are building on the success off the Energy Efficiency Action Plan Project, funded by the EU, implemented by the Ministry of Energy and UNDP TZ, by using their tried and tested process to develop standards for eCooking appliances. Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) are being developed for four eCooking appliances, and there will be a customer labelling scheme to enable customers to make informed choices when purchasing an eCooking appliance.

Sustainable Supply Chains

Finally, two seed funds are designed to support both early-stage, new entrants to the eCooking market, and those companies who are already experienced in the eCooking supply chain. Alongside other key players like UNCDF, we are aiming to support the development of a sustainable supply chain that can grow in parallel with demand for eCooking appliances in Tanzania.

Over the next 18 months we will be giving updates on the exciting developments that this programme of activities in Tanzania will lead to!