Wetility, by raising debt from the MultiChoice Enterprise Development Trust (MEDT) as well as Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA) has taken steps to address South Africa’s power unavailability crisis.
This investment comes at a time when the lack of power is felt ardently throughout the country. Rolling blackouts have become the norm for South Africans, with Eskom implementing load shedding cycles of up to six hours a day, for weeks on end, with little to no reprieve.
2022 already constitutes South Africa’s worst year of load shedding on record – and there are still two months to go.
Unsurprisingly, this has negatively impacted the everyday lives of South Africans and also placed severe strain on the economy.
To address this problem, Wetility is growing its customer acquisitions via leases and subscriptions offered through channel partners such as banks, and technology, media, and telecommunications companies.
In mid-2022, MEDT was one of a number of leading South African enterprises which provided debt financing totaling ZAR 30 million (approximately USD 1.6 million) to Wetility.
Committed to addressing the needs and pain points of its 21 million subscribers directly, MultiChoice has presented its DStv customers with the opportunity to win Wetility solar systems through its customer rewards program. The competition was launched on October 24 2022 and has garnered thousands of entries so far.
“We are determined to play a key role in addressing the socio-economic issues across the African continent in a way that is aligned to deploying local resources and equipping African small businesses with the skills and the connections to convert opportunities into thriving businesses for the good of Africa’s people,” MultiChoice Group CEO, Calvo Mawela confirmed.
The attractiveness of a combination of – Wetility’s financing model, the quality of its product, and the vast need for dependable power solutions in South Africa – has not escaped other investors.
As the solar provider closes its Series A round, other reputable backers have doubled down on their investment. Alongside MEDT, Standard Bank (SBSA) – one of South Africa’s largest financial services groups – also partnered with Wetility this year.
Such partnerships have allowed Wetility to scale its operations amidst severe power challenges. Ambitiously, the solar provider aims to provide clean, dependable, and affordable energy to households in the region, where over 350 million people across Southern Africa are currently without reliable power access.
Experts point to a comparable U.S. solar company, Sunrun, which partnered with US telecommunications conglomerate Comcast to quicken the pace of customer acquisitions. Sunrun went on to expand to a million homes within ten years, a feat companies such as Wetility will be looking to realise in Southern Africa.
To do so, Wetility has adapted its service offering to South Africa’s unique operating environment. Firstly, unlike other solar providers in South Africa, Wetility offers monthly payment options. This stands in contrast to the typical (solar business) model that includes large up-front payments – which often deter wide segments of South Africa’s population from acquiring solar systems.
Wetility’s app We–X, is also challenging the solar energy provider landscape. We–X was a runner-up in the App of the Year awards recently hosted by the South African telecommunications giant MTN.
We–X predicts load shedding and releases stored power reserves during grid outages. Through software analysis and intelligence the app continuously calculates whether using solar or grid energy is more favorable that day.
According to Wetility’s estimates, this cuts household electricity consumption by up to 50 percent. Alternatively, the model is also scalable to 100 percent, offering the option of being effectively off-grid.
“Solar energy products are not new, but what we are offering here taps into a whole new market segment. We’re excited to have MultiChoice Enterprise Development Trust and Standard Bank onboard as we scale to meet the demand which has grown exponentially as homes and business have found themselves reliant on independent power solutions.” Wetility’s CEO Vincent Maposa stated.
