In the past, the energy ladder was the main model for understanding changes in energy use.
This model shows that as households income increase they will change to more efficient
fuels. However, recent studies including my study show that culture, individual preferences,
availability, efficiency, price and cost effectiveness also play vital role in determining energy
and fuel choice. The research was conducted in two village development committee in Ilam
district namely Barbote and Kanyam. The field work was conducted for two weeks from Feb.
1-15, 2013. The data were collected through structured questionnaire and key informant
interviews. A total of 100 households were included. The households were selected basically
on the availability of people in their house and snowball sampling. The research identified the
household energy consumption pattern and the effects of economic. The main energy sources
of the households were biomass, charcoal, electricity, biogas, candle and batteries. Biomass is
widely used as almost 100% of HHs used it regardless economic status of the households. The
research found that better off HHs consume almost all type of fuels and used various types of
cooking stoves.