EAST Africa faces a critical challenge in its transition to clean cooking energy. While liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) presents a viable solution to reduce dependency on charcoal and firewood, adoption remains stubbornly low due to affordability issues, infrastructure gaps, and limited public awareness.

Millions of households across the region continue to rely on biomass, contributing to deforestation, respiratory illnesses, and economic inefficiencies.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are key to unlocking LPG’s potential, bridging financial and infrastructural gaps while ensuring long-term sustainability.

At East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition 2025 (EAPCE25) scheduled for March 5th to 7th, policymakers, investors, and industry leaders will explore how collaborative models can scale up LPG access, making it the primary cooking fuel for millions across East Africa. Theme for the 11th EAPCE25 is ‘Unlocking Investment in Future Energy: The Role of Petroleum Resources in the Energy Mix for Sustainable Development in East Africa’.

LPG adoption remains hindered by high upfront costs, deterring lower-income households from making the switch. Many families spend less than a dollar a day on energy, making charcoal and firewood seemingly cheaper in the short term.

To address this, governments and private sector players must work together to design sustainable financing models that make LPG more accessible. One of the most promising solutions is pay-as-you-go (PAYG) LPG technology, which allows consumers to refill cylinders in small increments rather than making bulk purchases.

Kenya and Tanzania are already piloting digital PAYG models, enabling consumers to top up gas balances using mobile money, mirroring the success of solar PAYG systems.

Targeted subsidies can further ease the transition by reducing the cost of LPG cylinders, stoves, and refills, making them affordable for low-income households.

In Ghana, the government introduced a cylinder recirculation model, ensuring a steady and affordable supply of pre-filled LPG cylinders, removing the burden of upfront costs.

East African nations can adapt and localize similar models to suit their energy markets. Development banks and private investors also have a critical role to play in co-financing large-scale LPG distribution projects.

EAPCE25 will serve as a platform to discuss how blended financing solutions—combining public funding, private capital, and concessional loans—can accelerate LPG expansion across the region.

Even as affordability improves, weak infrastructure remains a major bottleneck in LPG distribution. Many areas, especially rural regions, lack adequate storage facilities, efficient transportation networks, and last-mile delivery systems, restricting consumer access to LPG.

Countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda have already expanded LPG import terminals and storage capacity, but more investment is needed to ensure a seamless supply chain from ports to end-users.

PPP models can play a transformative role in financing and managing critical infrastructure, including cylinder recirculation centers to increase refill availability in remote areas, expansion of LPG transport fleets to improve distribution beyond urban centers, and decentralized cylinder exchange depots, reducing the reliance on centralized urban refill stations.

Regional regulatory harmonization is another key enabler of efficient supply chains. Standardizing cross-border LPG trade within the East African Community (EAC) will increase market stability, allowing private investors to operate at scale across multiple countries.

EAPCE25 will provide a forum for industry leaders and policymakers to outline policy reforms that can unlock new investment in LPG distribution networks.

While infrastructure and affordability are key barriers, consumer habits and perceptions also play a major role in limiting LPG adoption. Many East African households associate LPG with high costs, safety concerns, or technical complexity, making them reluctant to transition from traditional fuels.

To address this, well-funded behavioural change campaigns are crucial. Governments and private stakeholders must work together to promote large-scale LPG education initiatives, including media campaigns to dispel safety myths and showcase the long-term cost savings of LPG, community-based training programs that offer practical demonstrations on safe usage and cylinder handling, and school-based education initiatives integrating clean cooking knowledge into curriculums to ensure that future generations grow up familiar with LPG.

Countries like India and Indonesia have successfully combined LPG subsidy programs with extensive public education campaigns, leading to massive shifts in household energy consumption.

East Africa can replicate and tailor such strategies to accelerate LPG adoption at the grassroots level.

EAPCE’25 will serve as a catalyst for LPG transformation in East Africa, bringing together public and private stakeholders to design financing models, infrastructure solutions, and consumer engagement strategies that will define the next decade of clean cooking energy in the region.

Eng Felchesmi Mramba is the Permanent Secretary in Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy; he underscores the urgency of accelerating LPG adoption: “LPG is the future of clean cooking in East Africa. By aligning public and private sector efforts, we can lower costs, expand infrastructure, and educate consumers, ensuring that every household has access to safe, affordable, and sustainable cooking energy. EAPCE’25 is the platform where we turn these ideas into action”.

As East Africa seeks to adopt clean cooking energy, decisions to be made at EAPCE25 will shape the trajectory of LPG adoption for years to come.

Through strategic investments, policy reforms and consumer awareness, East Africa can build an LPG-powered future that delivers both economic and environmental benefits. The time to act is now.