Gas firm targets low-income earners

Dar es Salaam. KopaGas Company has received Sh6 billion from investors to enable low-income earners to access cooking gas at a cheaper price than that of charcoal.

KopaGas director Andron Mendes told Business Week that so far the firm had reached at least 2,000 families. The aim is to serve at least 600,000 families in the next five years.

However, he noted that talks were going on to get Sh25 billion to meet the target.

“The funding that we have so far received was from impact investors who target solutions for low-income communities,” he said.

He named the investors as Acumen (USA), HRSV (The Netherlands), KFW Bank (Germany), GSMA and Japan.

He noted that the programme started early 2019 after the funds were received.

Explaining, he said that the previous programme entailed one family having a complete set but was later seen as impractical as the majority of families lived in one rented rooms and therefore not safe to be cooking in the same room. According to him, the initiative targets low-income families that are forced to live in one room apartments that have no kitchens.

“We target such homes that share a common kitchen and give them a complete kit which consists of a gas cooker, gas cylinder plus a meter and gas card that loads credit which essentially is for pay as you cook.”

While they share a common stove in one common kitchen, each family has its own credit card.

According to him, the card has credit that can be loaded at whatever amount the owner requires starting at Sh500, depending on the amount they require. Explaining he said the gas card is the key for accessing gas, and when they require cooking the meter identifies the user and gives them access. The meter also reads the amount that the owner has in the card and deducts that was used to cook.

However, Mr Mendes said for customers to access the facility they have to pay an initial deposit or membership fee of Sh15,000. Each family spends at least Sh1,200 on cooking daily.

“The ‘pay-as-you-cook gas’ is cheaper than charcoal which is not quick, clean and also expensive where families have to use at least Sh3,000 for cooking daily and may still not be adequate,” he said.

Tanzania Forestry Services (TFS) CEO Dos Santos Silayo said Tanzania was looking for alternatives sources of energy apart from charcoal to save forests.

Prof Silayo said TFS was providing awareness programmes to the public on the importance of using alternative sources of energy to save the environment.

“Currently KopaGas is working closely with the community to provide gas to low-income earners through ‘pay-as-you-cook plan’ because they cannot afford to buy the whole gas cylinder.”

He noted that plans were underway to come up with a community gas network, where a large gas cylinder is placed at the centre with pipes distribution to the surrounding people.