Devergy

The challenge

In Tanzania, only seven percent of the country’s 39 million rural residents have access to electricity, making it one of the lowest electrification rates in East Africa. Most energy resources available to poor communities are expensive and polluting. In the absence of a connection to the national grid, Tanzanians currently spend close to $1 billion dollars per year on alternative lighting powered by traditional fuels.

The innovation

Devergy provides affordable and reliable high-intensity clean energy services to off-grid rural populations. Unlike other energy services, Devergy’s innovative business model employs smart metering, which leverages a “pay-as-you-go” model using mobile banking to align power usage with spending habits. Credit can be purchased for the same value as mobile phone credit, and the cost for the customer is lower than the cost of kerosene lighting, phone charging, or dry-cell batteries.