Understanding Consumer Preference and Willingness to Pay for Improved Cookstoves in Bangladesh

Abstract

The USAID/WASHplus project conducted a comprehensive assessment to understand consumer needs and preferences as they relate to increasing the uptake and consistent, exclusive, and correct use of improved cookstoves (ICSs) in Bangladesh. The assessment included household ICS trials, fuel and stove use monitoring, and consumers’ perceived value of and willingness to pay for ICSs. Results showed that cooks appreciated and liked the ICS, but that no models met consumer needs sufficiently to replace traditional stoves. Initially, many preferred ICSs over traditional stoves, but this preference decreased over the 3-week trial period. Complaints and suggestions for improvement fell into two general categories: those that can be addressed through fairly simple modifications to the stove design, and those more appropriately addressed through point‐of‐purchase consumer education and follow-up from service agents or health outreach workers. Most households using the ICS realized fuel use reductions, although these were lower than expected, partly because of continued parallel traditional stove use. When given the option to purchase the stoves at market value, only one of 105 households did so; however, a separate assessment showed that 80% of participants (12 of 15 households) preferred to keep the stove rather than receive a cash buyout at market value. This indicates that users value the ICS when acquisition barriers are removed and highlights the need for better financing options.

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge their partners in this study, including Village Education Resource Center, DESH GORI, Institute of Development Affairs, and Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, who contributed directly to the KPT and SUMS sections of this report.

Notes

¹The USAID-funded WASHplus project creates supportive environments for healthy households and communities by delivering high-impact interventions in water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and indoor air pollution.

²Aspirational strategies appeal to consumers’ psychological, social and/or economic hopes and goals, rather than their psychological, social and/or economic realities, based on the premise that emotions play as important a role in our purchase decision making as rationality (Hill, 2010).

³The International Standards Organization (ISO) International Workshop Agreement (IWA 11:2012 Guidelines for Evaluating Cookstove Performance) provides guidance for rating cookstoves on four key performance indicators: fuel use/efficiency, total emissions, indoor emissions and safety on a scale from Tier 0 (baseline) to Tier 4 (aspirational). ISO Technical Committee 285 on Clean Cookstoves and Clean Cooking Solutions (approved June 2013) is currently working to develop and approve voluntary international cookstove standards based on IWA 11:2012. For more information: http://www.cleancookstoves.org/technology-and-fuels/standards.

⁴Anticipated based on results for some of these and other similar intervention stoves in previous KPT studies from various parts of the developing world undertaken by the KPT researchers.

⁵The Vickrey auction has all participants write their bid and submit in secret. The highest bidder wins the right to purchase, but the price is determined by the second highest bid. With this mechanism, the participants are provided an incentive to reveal their true valuation because they must buy the good if their bid wins the auction. Another well-accepted procedure is known as the BDM procedure introduced by the authors Becker, DeGroot and Marshak. In BDM, every participant simultaneously submits an offer price to purchase a product. A sale price is randomly drawn from a distribution of prices. The bidders whose bids are greater than the sale price receive a unit of the good and pay an amount equal to the sale price (Breidert, Hahsler, & Reutterer, 2006).

⁶Controlled Cooking Tests consist of real food prepared by real cooks in a controlled setting.

⁷ICS currently being disseminated in Bangladesh often include cement chimneys; more consumer behavior should be studied around chimneys, as well as experimentation and innovation around chimney design, particularly to allow for easier cleaning. Chimneys can be a very effective way of channeling smoke away from the cook, as long as they are well maintained. However, smoke can easily re-enter the kitchen through windows and without proper maintenance, smoke will back up into the kitchen. Bangladeshi homes may be particularly at risk; there is not an established culture of chimney maintenance in Bangladesh and for some houses (e.g., those with a thatched roof), there is really no way to clean a cement chimney properly. As such, exposure monitoring should be undertaken for chimney stoves considered for promotion.