Browsing by Author "Thamae, Retselisitsoe"

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    Determinants of choice of household energy use in Lesotho
    (National University of Lesotho, 2020) Mothala, Matsoso; Mpholo, Moeketsi; Thamae, Retselisitsoe
    With the need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals, modern clean household energy choice forms the basis for heeding this call. In developing countries, most of the population lives in rural areas and is characterized by high dependence on polluting biomass for cooking and heating while they rely predominantly on paraffin and candles for lighting. Women and children in developing countries spend an appreciable amount of time collecting the biomass, hence unable to carry out other development activities. The use of modern technologies such as solar home systems for lighting could help pupils study at night with adequate light and with no adverse effects on their health. Nevertheless, the determinants of household energy choice have not been studied in many developing countries including Lesotho, despite the potential benefits of such a study. This study uses the data collected by Lesotho’s Bureau of Statistics through a national household energy consumption survey of 2017, to develop a multinomial logistic regression to identify and analyze the determinants of the choice of household energy use. The results indicate that income, as predicted by the energy ladder model is statistically significant for the choice of clean energy fuels. But other socio-economic factors such as gender, education, household size, and settlement type also play an important role in the choice of clean energy choice. The role of gender in the choice of fuels used within a household is generally statistically insignificant. There is not a clear distinction of preference, on the choice of fuel, between male-headed households versus female-headed households. An increase in the education level of the household head is statistically significant in choosing cleaner fuels. This suggests that public policies should have a strong focus on improving formal and informal education to increase awareness of clean energy fuels and their benefits. Household size is negative and statistically significant for the choice of clean fuels over traditional fuels. Large households have enough labour that is required for the collection of traditional fuels. In rural settlements, electricity is hardly used for either cooking or water heating, it is used only for lighting. This suggests that policies, for economic reasons, should not focus on extending the grid to the rural areas but to promote domestic systems and micro-grids that provide enough electricity for lighting and household entertainment.
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    Development of time-of-use tariffs
    (National University of Lesotho, 2020) Mohasoa, Lebohang Edwin; Mpholo, Moeketsi; Eager, Dan; Thamae, Retselisitsoe
    The electricity consumption profile varies during any 24-hour period, but the electricity pricing policy for Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) does not reflect this fluctuation as it employs flatrate tariffs across all customer categories. This fails to adequately capture the costs exerted on the electricity network by each customer at a certain period. To address this problem, time-of-use (ToU) tariffs are determined in this study, while ensuring revenue neutrality for the utility before any load shifting. Implementation of a comprehensive ToU based pricing model could be an effective mechanism to reflect the costs imposed on the network by customers and therefore encourage customers to engage in load adjustment. The Gaussian mixture model has been utilized to determine ToU time-periods and prices. The time-periods are divided into different periods; offpeak, standard, and peak periods. Different customer categories have different durations of time- periods. This is attributed to the observed load profiles of different customer categories. Furthermore, different customer categories have different prices per period resulting in different price ratios. Possible load-shifting scenarios of 5% and 10% have resulted in a reduction in customer energy bills of 2.6% and 5.2%, respectively. While, the LEC bulk energy savings translated to 13 GWh and 30 GWh for the two load-shifting scenarios, respectively.
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    The impact of bank regulation on bank lending
    (Springer Nature Limited, 2021-08-30) Thamae, Retselisitsoe; Odhlambo, Nicholas M
    This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on the impact of bank regulation on bank lending. It also structures the empirical evidence according to the impact of various bank regulatory measures on bank lending. The surveyed theoretical literature generally indicates that the impact of bank regulation on lending could be asymmetric, depending on the trade-off between the costs and benefits of bank regulation. The evidence from the empirical studies also shows that the impact of bank regulatory measures on lending is ambiguous. Although many studies found the impact to be negative, some established that it was positive while others found it to be insignificant or inconclusive. However, most empirical studies only assumed first-round effects using static and/or dynamic models, whereas the ones incorporating second-round effects using general equilibrium models were limited. Therefore, this systematic review of the literature indicates that policy recommendations regarding the appropriateness and efficacy of bank regulatory measures in influencing bank lending cannot be implemented uniformly across different regions or countries.
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    Measurement and determinants of energy poverty in Lesotho
    (National University of Lesotho, 2024) Lekola, Mathabela; Thamae, Retselisitsoe; Lekhooana, Mosito
    Energy poverty remains a significant barrier to sustainable development in Lesotho. This study assesses the prevalence of energy poverty and employs a multinomial logit model to analyse the determinants of energy poverty, using data from the Lesotho 2017 Household Energy Consumption Survey (HECS). The research study explores the impact of various socioeconomic and demographic factors on different categories of energy poverty during both summer and winter seasons. The statistical analysis was conducted using Gretl software, a robust, open-source tool specifically designed for econometric analysis. Gretl facilitated the multinomial logit model, enabling the identification of key socioeconomic and demographic factors influencing various categories of energy poverty. The analysis reveals seasonal variations in energy poverty, with a higher incidence of energy poverty during winter, highlighting the increased energy needs. The key determinants of energy poverty include household income, settlement type, education level and gender of the household head. Relatively higher income levels and urban or peri-urban households are less likely to experience energy poverty, while low-income and rural households face higher risks. The education of household heads has an impact on energy poverty but was found to be inconsistent across the summer and winter models. The summer model showed that higher education was protective against extreme energy poverty, while in the winter model, higher education showed a higher likelihood of transitioning from the non-energy poverty category to the transitional and moderate energy poverty categories. The study also highlights gender disparities, with female-headed households being more vulnerable to moderate energy poverty, particularly in summer. Based on these insights, the study provides policy recommendations aimed at enhancing energy access and reducing energy poverty, including targeted support for vulnerable groups, strengthening rural energy infrastructure and promoting educational initiatives on energy management. The findings offer valuable contributions to the ongoing policy discourse as Lesotho prepares to evaluate its national energy policy, presenting an opportunity to integrate these insights into future strategies.
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    The genderperspective of socio-economic determinants of household cooking energy consumption in Lesotho
    (National University of Lesotho, 2023) Nkaile, Palesa; Mpholo, Moeketsi; Thamae, Retselisitsoe
    Unveiling gender dynamics in household energy consumption is a pathway to empowerment and sustainable development since the inaccessibility of electricity perpetuates gender inequality due to women’s higher involvement in time-consuming and unproductive activities such as wood collection and cooking. This study investigates the variations in fuel consumption shares between female-headed and male-headed households and explores the determinants of these differences from a gender perspective. Using the Tobit regression model to analyse the 2017 Household Energy Consumption Survey (HECS) data, the study establishes the statistical significance of socioeconomic variables on household shares of biomass, paraffin, LPG, and electricity, assuming that the shares are left-censored. The findings reveal intriguing patterns, such as the increasing shares of dirty fuels with the age of the household head regardless of gender. However, education impacts female and male-headed households differently, with female-headed households generally increasing their share of high-end fuels while male-headed households opt for transition fuels. Increasing income and households in peri-urban and urban areas are also not discriminatory in terms of gender as both reduce the share of dirty fuels and rely more on cleaner alternatives. Conversely, increasing household size affects female-headed but not male-headed households as they are found to increase the shares of transition fuels in summer but reduce the share of cleaner fuels in winter. Therefore, the study emphasises the need for targeted education and economic empowerment programmes, awareness campaigns, and income-generating skills development policy interventions to foster clean energy access and improve the well-being of Basotho households.