**Olumide Hassan \*, Stephen Morse and Matthew Leach**

Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, UK; s.morse@surrey.ac.uk (S.M.); m.leach@surrey.ac.uk (M.L.)

**\*** Correspondence: o.hassan@surrey.ac.uk

Received: 23 November 2020; Accepted: 14 December 2020; Published: 17 December 2020

**Abstract:** Ongoing reductions in the costs of solar PV and battery technologies have contributed to an increased use of home energy systems in Sub-Saharan African regions without grid access. However, such systems can normally support only low-power end uses, and there has been little research regarding the impact on households unable to transition to higher-wattage energy services in the continued absence of the grid. This paper examines the challenges facing rural energy transitions and whether households feel they are energy 'locked in'. A mixed-methods approach using questionnaire-based household energy surveys of rural solar home system (SHS) users was used to collect qualitative and quantitative data. Thematic analysis and a mixture of descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were applied. The results showed that a significant number of households possessed appliances that could not be powered by their SHS and were willing to spend large sums to connect were a higher-capacity option available. This implied that a significant number of the households were locked into a low-energy future. Swarm electrification technology and energy efficient, DC-powered plug-and-play appliances were suggested as means to move the households to higher tiers of electricity access.

**Keywords:** solar home systems; rural households; energy transitions; energy access
