Tanzanian households are largest consumers of energy, although many are still depending on biomass.

According to latest report on Tanzania Energy Balance, June 2024 published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Tanzania’s energy demand in 2022 was 22,337.55 kilotonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) or 259.77 TWh. 

The sectoral breakdown of Tanzania’s energy demand shows that the residential sector is the largest consuming sector, comprising nearly 64 percent of total final consumption. 

This is followed by industry (16.4 percent), transport (12.2 percent), and agriculture, forestry and fishing (4.4 percent). 

Commercial and public services account for only 2 percent of total final consumption, while 1.3 percent is non-specifi ed and 0.2 percent is non-energy use. 

Due to a lack of available data on the consumption side in Tanzania at the time of reporting the 2022 Energy Balance, this sectoral breakdown could look somewhat different, the report notes.

Demand was fueled by a variety of energy sources depending on the sector being served. 

In 2022, Tanzania, industry primarily consumed biofuels and waste (53.7 percent), followed by oil products (22.7 percent), coal (15.5 percent), and electricity (8.1 percent). 

The transport sector consumed only oil products in 2022, primarily diesel and gasoline for road transport. 

In the residential sector, the largest fuel source for consumption came from biofuels and waste (97 percent), while oil products and electricity (a secondary energy source being powered by natural gas or hydro) followed at 0.7 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. 

Commercial and public services primarily consumed biofuels and waste (64.7 percent), followed by oil products (20.3 percent) and electricity (15.1 percent). 

Finally, agriculture, forestry and fishing consumed only biofuels and waste to power their operations, though 2022 data on this sector was lacking at the time of reporting.

However, the report highlights that energy sector in Tanzania continues to be charactirised by low electricity access rates and reliance on biomass use for residential consumption. 

Traditional biomass remains a dominant source of energy, particularly in rural areas where access to modern energy services is limited. 

Fuelwood and charcoal account for some 77 percent of total energy use, used extensively for cooking and heating. 

Residential demand for biomass accounted for 13,761.90 ktoe, followed by industry at 1,822.85 ktoe. 

Industrial demand followed that of the residential sector but only accounting for 16.36 percent of total energy demand. 

The most energy-demanding industries remained non-metallic mineral industries, or primarily cement or ceramic industries, and mining and quarrying industries. 

Transport accounted for 12.23 percent of total energy demand in 2022, over 95 percent of which came from road transport – private cars, heavy and light goods vehicles, busses, taxis, etc. 

The rest went to rail transport which uses some diesel, while domestic aviation only accounted for 1.3 percent of total energy demand in the transport sector. International aviation bunkers, though estimated, consumed roughly four times more energy than domestic aviation. 

“Understanding Tanzania’s energy intensity is crucial for evaluating its energy efficiency and identifying opportunities for improvement in its energy sector as it is only one aspect of measuring energy efficiency,” says the report. 

However, energy intensity can help identify how much energy is used to produce one unit of economic output. 

In Tanzania, total energy supply per unit of GDP in 2022 was 2,949.68 MJ/thousand 2015 USD, compared to the international average intensity of 4,715 MJ/thousand 2015 USD in 2019 alone, according to the International Energy Agency. 

While below international averages, Tanzania’s relatively high energy intensity indicates the country’s economy relies significantly on energy-intensive sectors such as heavy industry, mining and perhaps even agriculture as these sectors typically consume large amounts of energy relative to their economic output.