Lumos Nigeria Leads Campaign On Solar Energy Supply Mix

Yemisi Izuora 

Lumos Nigeria, the leading solar power and off-grid solar home systems provider as well as the pioneers of Mobile Electricity Service in Nigeria, has called on residents in Nigeria’s urban communities to adopt the use of solar energy as part of an effective energy mix option for their critical and basic electricity needs. This according to the company’s Vice President Marketing, Mr. Olufemi Ashipa, would help solve to a very large extent, the Nigerian energy crisis that currently needs immediate scalable solutions.

Speaking at the Solar Future Nigeria 2018 conference, in Abuja, Mr. Ashipa noted that while power supply remains a major issue in Nigeria, residents in urban communities in the country lead the park in the adoption of very expensive and climate-damaging option for generating power compared to solar energy solutions which are cheaper, safer and an environmental friendlier option in the energy supply mix. “Data shows that 61 per cent of Micro SMEs in Nigeria spend between ₦500 to ₦1000 per day on fuel and as many as 85 per cent of micro and small businesses rely on generators for the supply of electricity. As a result, it is critical to note that the explosion in generator sales is driven by urban Nigeria and not the rural areas and the bottomline is, we spend a lot more in trying to solve our power issues”, Mr. Ashipa said.

“With 60m generators in Nigeria, mostly held in the urban environments, Nigeria’s electricity sector continues to lose N24 billion monthly to the electricity-generator market. Yet if we carefully look through the issues surrounding power in Nigeria, we would understand better that solar power solutions can solve half of the problems we currently face in the sector”, he added. 

He argued that with Lumos Nigeria committed to improving the quality of life of Nigerians, through access to reliable, accessible electricity, it is plausible to state that solar solutions can best solve half of the problems we have in the sector in a sustained and affordable manner. 

However, he believes that Nigerians need to unlearn the way they approach solar power generation for optimised results. “The first principle of solar power is for people to first understand what it can or cannot do. If we remember clearly the revolution in the banking system through the credit and debit cards years ago, it took a while for people to trust the system. After a while, we became used to the system. This is the same for solar solutions, although it is more complex considering the fact that consumers wonder why they should pay for the sun that is free,” Ashipa stated.

He noted further that; “even though most solar solutions come with an initial financial commitment, users can save more in the medium and long-term compared to the cost of running generators; reducing drastically the average monthly spend on electricity. Our energy consumption paradigm must shift to understanding the fact that we can actually do more with less as we learn to make choices. We can better understand this if we carefully calculate the amount of power we consume daily. This would become clear to us to realize if we really do need to switch on every appliance at the same time.”

In ensuring that more Nigerians get the opportunity to access and benefit from its unique mobile solar electricity solution known as the Y’ello Box, Lumos Nigeria recently launched a price reduction window on its Lumos Solar Power Systems for prospective consumers across the country. The move is also aimed at empowering more small business owners and households to lead an improved quality of life and run profitable enterprise through the adoption of cleaner, affordable, noiseless and environment-friendly solar power generation system, “one Y’ello box at a time”. 

The initiative will also afford new subscribers the opportunity to join Lumos Nigeria’s league of over 90,000 subscribers for only N20,000 set up fee, which has bundled into it, one full month of mobile electricity subscription; previously, that would have come at a cost of N36,500.

The Lumos Y’ello Box Mobile Solar Electricity Service, which comes with a 5-year after-sales repair service on the solar panel and the indoor display unit (IDU) provides smart, reliable, accessible and affordable electricity through convenient payment plans, using airtime from mobile phones to pay for the service.

To benefit from the price reduction, small business owners and individuals can walk into participating MTN stores to join the Lumos Mobile Electricity Service with just an initial payment of N20, 000 inclusive of a one-month subscription.