COVID-19 Energy Access Relief Response

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse the enormous progress that off-grid energy companies have made in bringing power to 470 million people in the last decade.

The new global economic crisis will make it more difficult for existing customers to pay for their energy services. At the same time, slowed supply chains and reduced investment flows are causing energy companies to run out of cash. Facing dwindling liquidity, these energy companies will be forced to lay off staff putting the sector’s nearly 370,000 jobs at risk and shut off customers’access to energy.

The Covid-19 Relief Response is coordinated by the Energy Access Action Network, a coalition of leading companies, investors, industry associations, and sector support providers from across the off-grid sector. The Network is developing important early interventions to support the industry through the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Energy Access Relief site is now updated to include a broader cross-section of the COVID-related support efforts in the energy action space:

Technical Assistance - Including currently available technical assistance providers and additional resources tracked by industry associations;
Sector wide policy interventions – including GOGLA’s policy tracker and the World Bank tracker of the national policy measures;

Consumer protection and relief – including Self-reported data on key PAYGo markets, the steps that PAYGo operators are already taking, a survey on consumer's experiences, etc;

Financial assistance for energy access companies – including an Open Letter asking for Additional Grant Funding and other useful information.

ALER has been taking part of the Additional Funding Working Group weekly meetings, where a wide group of stakeholders get updates on these various efforts to support energy access companies and have the opportunity to discuss and work out next steps.

More info about financial assistance available here: