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Blog Series

Financial Inclusion and Energy

Roughly 1.1 billion people worldwide lack electricity, and almost 85 percent of those without power live in rural areas. Distributed energy solutions that leverage digital payments open up opportunities to reach millions of people at low cost. In this blog series, CGAP looks at emerging evidence on the role that business models enabled by digital finance, such as pay-as-you-go (PAYGo) solar, can play in expanding access to electricity for low-income populations while advancing financial inclusion.

Using solar-powered light from a pay-as-you-go kit, Mali.
Blog
29 June 2021

How a New Set of Metrics Is Poised to Transform PAYGo Solar

The PAYGo PERFORM Key Performance Indicators offer a pathway to growth and maturity for the off-grid solar industry.
Solar panel on rooftop in Sri Lanka. Photo: Dominic Sansoni / World Bank
Blog
08 October 2019

Former PAYGo CFO: Smart Subsidies Can Scale Energy Financing

Well-designed subsidies could create a stronger foundation for the solar home system industry and enable it to reach more low-income customers, according to entrepreneur and former PAYGo executive Joshua Romisher.
This smallholder family in Mozambique owns solar panels, which they use to charge their mobile phones. Photo: Allison Shelley
Blog
09 July 2019

Expanding the Horizons of Pay-as-You-Go Solar

As PAYGo solar companies seek to expand into new and challenging markets, they will need to lower their costs and improve repayment rates.
Marieta Paulo harvests cotton with her niece in Mozambique. She and her husband are saving their agricultural earnings to open a small store, and they hope to purchase a solar panel to power a refrigerator for cold drinks. Photo: Allison Shelley
Blog
08 May 2019

Stepping Back: Product, Collections and Credit Risk in PAYGo Solar

While PAYGo solar companies can lower delinquency rates by improving their credit risk management practices, improving repayment starts with even more fundamental factors: having an affordable, quality product and effective collections.
A group of smallholder rice farmers in Senegal. Photo: Daniella Van Legello-Padilla, 2015 CGAP Photo Contest
Blog
02 May 2019

PAYGo Solar Opens Pathways to Microfinance in Rural Senegal

A microfinance institution and pay-as-you-go solar company have teamed up to expand rural, low-income customers' access to microfinance based on their solar loan repayment histories.
Solar panel outside a health facility in Sudan
Blog
08 November 2018

Growth vs. Sustainability: Credit Risk in PAYGo Solar

Rapid customer growth in PAYGo solar can come with a cost: too many customers that don’t repay. To better understand the realities and challenges of running a PAYGo credit operation, we spoke with heads of credit and risk at PAYGo solar companies, equity investors and creditors.
Burundi farmers learn about solar lamps. Photo by Hailey Tucker, 2016 CGAP Photo Contest.
Blog
09 May 2018

Remote Lockouts: The Dark Side of Pay-as-You-Go Solar?

Lockout technology has enabled creditors to help poor people finance solar systems and light their homes, but it’s not very popular with consumers.
Man adjusting a light
Blog
28 November 2017

How Can Pay-as-You-Go Solar Work for Poor People?

Averaging $0.40 a day, pay-as-you-go solar energy is affordable for many people — but not everyone. We looked at the costs and benefits of several tactics providers have used to make solar affordable for low-income households.
One Acre Fund field officer Giselle Marie Nizigiyimana introduces Burundian farmers to the Sun King Pro solar lamp.
Blog
07 November 2017

Keeping the Lights On: Repayment Challenges in PAYGo Solar

Research in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania reveals some of the top reasons pay-as-you-go solar borrowers stop repaying their loans.
A Fenix customer repays their solar home system loan using mobile money.
Blog
19 October 2017

Flexible Finance: What Can We Learn from PAYGo Lenders?

Pay-as-you-go solar lenders have developed a uniquely flexible financial product that benefits low-income customers with erratic incomes.

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