PayGo firm M-KOPA has announced it has hit 50,000 off grid homes in Uganda with an average of five people in each house, this means that 250,000 Ugandans no longer need to rely on kerosene.
The homes in Uganda are using mobile pay-as-you-go solar from M-KOPA for lighting, charging and entertainment.
In a statement, Anthony Weremaka, General Manager M-KOPA Solar Uganda, “We are proud to have reached 50,000 homes in Uganda with 25,000 coming in, in the past twelve months. We are seeing the off grid solar market gaining huge traction as Ugandans realize they don’t have to wait for the grid to access affordable power.”
The M-KOPA 4 solar home system comes with an 8W solar panel, two upgradeable LED bulbs, phone charging, USB with five ports, rechargeable torch and radio. And this comes with 24/7 customer support and a two-year warranty. M-KOPA offers an annual mobile payment plan, helping Ugandans to leapfrog to clean, affordable and reliable energy.
M-KOPA estimates that 5.5 million homes in Uganda are off grid with most of these still relying on kerosene for lighting. And the fumes continue to create adverse health effects with respiratory infections being one of the prevalent illnesses in the country.
Weremaka says the firm the firm is eradicating the use of tadooba amongst rural households by providing them with clean energy, enabling them to save and invest in their health, education and income generating opportunities.
M-KOPA Solar offers solar home systems on an affordable payment plan at an initial deposit of UGX 120,000 followed by 365 daily payments of UGX 1,700. Customers can make payments through MTN and Airtel.
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M-KOPA customers can also access additional practical products to upgrade their lives. Customers who have completed their initial payment plan can now upgrade on an affordable mobile payment plan, using their solar homes systems as collateral. This new range of products includes more bulbs, smart phones, energy saving stoves and TV’s will be available later in 2016.
M-KOPA is on track to connect to connect a million homes across East Africa to its solar home systems by the end of 2017.
