The purpose of this paper is to use a political economy analysis to generate discussion on who the winners and losers might be in the strategy of the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) programme and anticipate research, action and dialogue that might avoid or mitigate resistance to change.

The paper starts by considering some meta influences on the political economy. It considers climate change and the rise of urgency that will influence decisions over the coming decade. In that consideration the paper touches lightly on whether fossil fuels or renewable energy will dominate the coming landscape, and how the global economy might influence the transition to modern energy cooking services. Setting this in an African context, the paper considers the structure of the power sector in Africa, and considers what the literature says about the rent seeking winners of the current system. The paper notes that globally the power sector will undergo significant change in the coming ten years and considers who the winners and the losers might be in the future