Off-grid solar sector going digital: the experience of Kamworks in Cambodia

Off-grid solar sector going digital: the experience of Kamworks in Cambodia

As a growing number of solar companies offer the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO)
financing model for customers, the solar sector is going digital. Not only
are customers paying digitally, but solar companies are building digital
back offices. With support from several partners, including UNCDF
CleanStart, Kamworks - a solar company that provides solar power to more
than 150,000 rural customers in Cambodia - has developed a proprietary PAYGO
and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform.

The PAYGO platform allows people to pay for their monthly installment using
mobile money. This facilitates access to energy (making small payments
regularly would match their small weekly income) and stimulates the use of
mobile payment/banking services.

Banking penetration rates remain low in Cambodia compared to other countries
in the region (around 22 percent1 of adults with bank accounts). Yet, there
is a high degree of mobile phone penetration and internet usage with around
94 percent2 of Cambodians owning a mobile phone and almost one in three that
use the internet. The low banking penetration suggests that there might be a
substantial unmet demand for access to formal financial services. Mobile
platforms/mobile payment services/mobile banking services might be able to
deliver financial services to the poor at a lower cost relative to
traditional branch-based banking models. This would match with the already
widespread use of mobile phones.

With a GSM chip inside the battery box, energy usage data is sent to
Kamworks' back-end platform every 20 minutes. The ERP allows for remote
agent and inventory management. There are several advantages of these
features. By analyzing customer usage data, Kamworks can design products
better tailored to meet customer-specific needs and usage patterns.
Maintenance visits are reduced as Kamworks can troubleshoot problems
remotely by looking at the Solar Home System data. Furthermore, as the PAYGO
technology can identify early issues with battery performance, it can help
identify usage patterns to clients that may shorten battery life.

Going digital has helped Kamworks manage their customers and business in a
more efficient and cost-effective way. Kamworks is experiencing a sea-change
first-hand having been in the cash-sales business for the past decade.
Better yet, it's up for grabs by other solar providers that want to
integrate these solutions into their own activities. In a very short time,
already, two solar initiatives have signed up.

With solar PAYGO financing combined with digital, solar is becoming less
about the hardware and a lot more about the service. Managing good customer
relations and overcoming physical limitations through digital is changing
the face of the off-grid solar sector.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Ref: http://uncdf.org/en/node/3880

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com