•A large-scale, city-wide household electricity survey is conducted in Burkina Faso.•Use is made of the survey’s results to analyse the urban domestic electricity use.•2395 kWh is averagely used by households per year with cooling consuming the most.•Interaction between electricity use and household’s lifestyle is investigated.•Lack of knowledge on energy efficiency is noticed, suggesting policy implications. Information on actual domestic electricity use in Burkina Faso, where the urban zones and residential sector account for 74% and 33% respectively of the total electricity use, remains very challenging to find, as little research currently exists. This study aimed therefore, to provide the first ever insights into the actual urban residential electricity use. A survey with 387 households, the first large-scale, city-wide household electricity study undertaken in Burkina Faso to the authors’ knowledge, was conducted in the city of Ouagadougou. Information on the households' characteristics and behaviours were collected to yield a first comprehensive analysis on the actual city-scale domestic electricity use. Findings demonstrated an average electricity use of 2395 kWh/year by households. Cooling accounts for almost 40% of the total domestic electricity use, followed mainly by cooking and food preserving (23%) and information-communication-entertainment (19%) activities. Three groups of consumers were then formed based on their electricity use level, to investigate interactions between electricity use and households’ lifestyles. The study’s findings lay therefore, the foundations for a better understanding of actual urban domestic electricity use patterns and could help to develop more suitable policies and actions targeting energy conservation in the residential sector.