A study was carried out by EnDev Ethiopia in cooperation with Financial Systems Development (FSD) component. In Ethiopia, EnDev is supporting the development of an enabling environment for off-grid renewable energy and energy efficiency investments.

Financial instruments, such as Pay-as-you-Go (PAYGO), are key components for accelerating the adoption of off-grid energy technologies, as they can increase end-user’s ability to access them. Considering its encouraging track record in Sub-Saharan Africa, PAYGO has a large potential to facilitate the uptake of off-grid solar systems in Ethiopia as well.

This scoping study provides a comprehensive overview of the PAYGO sector for Energy Access in Ethiopia, including the status-quo of the supply, demand and regulatory environment; map of the main stakeholders; a country comparison with other African countries where PAYGO has been successfully implemented; and areas of intervention for Financial System Development .

PAYGO technology and business models are a key component for the promotion of off-grid energy technologies. The study introduces PAYGO systems for modern energy access in Ethiopia. PAYGO has been enabled by a combination of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including embedded remote controls for switch-off and usage monitoring. The lockout technology turns borrowers’ lighting (or lack thereof) into an immediate and tangible reminder to repay their debt, making clean energy a manageable, as-you-go experience, akin to a prepaid mobile phone plan. And this study explores the reasons for PAYGO’s low establishment and uptake in Ethiopia by providing:

1. A comprehensive overview of the PAYGO sector, including the status-quo of the supply, demand and regulatory environment;
2. Stakeholder mapping;
3. A country comparison with Rwanda;
4. Recommendations on interventions.

ICT- enabled PAYGO has been one of the main drivers for the scale up of standalone solar systems in the African continent. In General the study did a deep dive into the existing and potential Ethiopian PAYGO sector with a focus on how conducive framework conditions can be developed and implemented with an outlook of initiating a dialogue with local policy makers and other relevant stakeholders in order to explore possible approaches to advance the ecosystem toward the adoption and use of PAYGO in Ethiopia.

Find the full Study at : Scoping Study: Enabling environment with Pay-As-You-Go in Ethiopia