Firm Pushes for Cleaner Energy Penetration, Eliminates 150,000 Kerosene Lamps

Peter Uzoho

As part of efforts to discourage the use of dirty fuel, Greenlight Planet has announced the elimination of 150,000 kerosene lamps in Nigeria, translating to the removal of 200,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas.

Pay As You Go (PAYG) Business Leader for Nigeria, Greenlight Planet, Tuga Omoyemi, explained that Nigeria is home to the largest off-grid and under-electrified population in Africa, noting that government estimates indicate 70 million Nigerians live entirely off the grid or lack reliable access to energy.

“Given that most Nigerian households and businesses face severe power cuts, the potential customer profile of an off-grid solar powered system ranges from the rural, lower-income consumer to a salaried professional living in urban Nigeria,” he said.

The Greenlight Planet boss disclosed that the company started with a simple, reliable solar-powered replacement (Sun King solar lamp) for the ubiquitous kerosene lamp when the business started more than 10 years ago.

He said since then, the company has been growing every year by introducing new products and services to the market, adding that based on the success of its pay-as-you-go offering in East Africa, in 2017, Greenlight decided to expand the energy financing business model to Nigeria as well.

“While mobile money was a key catalyst in PAYG solar success in East Africa, it became clear that an energy financing business in Nigeria would need to be built on a physical cash payment collections model.
“Despite the security and infrastructure challenges present in the country, in the last three years, Greenlight has innovated a successful cash collections based business model in Nigeria.

“With accelerated cash payment collections for PAYG solar products in Nigeria, we have delivered clean energy access to more than 750,000 individuals through our direct-to-consumer channel,” Omoyemi noted.

He maintained that Greenlight Planet’s solutions were especially tailored to lower income households, many of whom, he said, also live in harder-to-reach, rural parts of the country.

Omoyemi added that while the PAYG business model has the potential to accelerate energy access in Nigeria, especially to these lower income consumers, the company has realised that it is not the only way to reach Nigerian households and businesses.

He stressed that microfinance institutions, telecoms operators, savings and loan organisations and traditional consumer durable distribution networks represented viable sales and financing channels and comprised a critical portion of the Greenlight’s Sun King distribution network in Nigeria.

He stated that 40 per cent of Greenlight’s Sun King customers in Nigeria earn between N30,000 to N100,000 per month ($70 to $245 per month), often seasonally, as opposed to continuously throughout the year.

“We expect to reach more customers through external distributors as well as our direct channel, to collectively reach more Nigerian households in hard to reach, underserved areas. Our approach to pay-as-you-go technology is extremely flexible and adaptable. The retail prices of our Sun King products range from $30 to $428,”he added.