In addition to democratizing access to electricity, digitized pay-as-you-go solar energy solutions also offer the extra benefit of helping customers build credit history—a major boon given the well-documented barriers to accessing credit, particularly for low-income households, says Marincola.

“We see distributors offering solar home systems on credit which the end user can pay off over six to 18 months and develop a credit history in the system. [Because] they know that customer will pay, they can start offering subsequent loans or products that have a higher value.”

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