An explorative survey was carried out on rural and semi-urban households to find out the energy consumption pattern with respect to socio-demographic and geographic factors in Bangladesh by using stratified random sampling technique. The study revealed that 100% of the households used biomass, 98% kerosene, 61% electricity, 23% LPG and 5% candle in the rural areas. In the semi-urban areas, 100% of the households used electricity, candle and natural gas, 60% kerosene and 13% petrol. Households' mean expenditure for total energy was US$ 5.34 (SE, 0.43) with total income US$ 209.84 (SE, 6.69) month(-1) in the rural areas, while it was US$ 6.20 (SE, 1.35) in the semi-urban areas with the total income US$ 427.76 (SE, 24.19) month(-1). This study may be a useful baseline information to energy policy makers in Bangladesh. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.