Low income earners pay highest price for off-grid solar

Sector accounted for 55% of new connections

- By ESG Now

Across sub-Saharan Africa, off-grid solar has long been marketed as a cheaper, decentralised, cleaner and entrepreneurial alternative to limited public electricity.

However, new analysis reveals the poorest Africans are paying the highest unit price for the smallest amount of electricity. This is the poverty premium, and it is reshaping how governments, investors, and energy-access civic groups think about Africa’s just energy transition.

The off-grid solar sector accounted for 55% of all new electricity connections in sub-Saharan Africa between 2020 and 2022, according to the 2024 Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report. Off-grid solar companies such as Sun King, Bboxx, d.light, M-KOPA, and Zola Electric have electrified millions of households and businesses across the continent.

But their business models depend on capital that is simply too expensive for people living on less than $2 (R34) a day.