The Private Sector Foundation Uganda in partnership with Energising Development (EnDev) GIZ Uganda is implementing the Last-Mile RBF pilot. The Last-Mile RBF pilot is funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The project’s objective of the Last-Mile RBF pilot is to increase energy access through solar home systems (SHS) to last-mile households in Uganda by incentivizing off-grid solar companies to develop sustainable business models towards reaching the last mile. The Last-Mile RBF pilot will provide economic incentives to solar companies SHS to expand reach into more rural and remote areas that are associated with prohibitive barriers in terms of higher costs and risks.  

Overall Objective

The overall objective is to increase energy access through solar home systems (SHS) to last-mile households in Uganda by incentivising off-grid solar companies to develop sustainable business models towards reaching the last mile.

Specific Objective

To incentive off-grid solar companies to extend their service coverage to commercially viable last-mile areas by temporarily lower the costs of extending coverage and offering a risk protection mechanism for customer payment defaults.

Project strategy  

The project’s strategy is to temporarily lower the cost of extending off-grid solar companies service coverage for Tier 2 products to last-mile areas and provide a risk protection mechanism for customer payment defaults. This strategy will be achieved through provision of up to three types of results-based financing incentives to companies selling solar home systems (SHS).

The project is intended to benefit the following categories;

• Off-solar enterprises providing Tier 1 and Tier 2 solar products to the off-the-grid households in Uganda
• Last-mile off the-grid household customers in Uganda, nationwide.

The Last-mile RBF is implemented by Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in partnership with Energizing Development (EnDev) Uganda – GIZ;

And is financed by;  

• United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and;

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation  (SDC)

The Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in partnership with Energising Development (EnDev) Uganda (GIZ) is piloting a Result-Based Financing (RBF) scheme for off grid solar companies in Uganda with funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).

The project’s objective is to increase energy access through solar home systems (SHS) to last-mile households in Uganda by incentivising off-grid solar companies to develop sustainable business models towards reaching the last mile.

The Last-Mile RBF offers three lines of financing incentives for solar companies including; Customer Remoteness RBF, Asset Financing RBF and Customer Default RBF. The incentives are intended to support solar companies to offset parts of their costs and risk players experience when targeting new and more remote geographical segments.

The RBF scheme is open to all off-grid solar companies operating in Uganda.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Entities 

To participate in the Last-Mile RBF pilot, the entity must fulfill the following conditions; 

1. Must be duly registered and operating in Uganda.
2. Must be for-profit company
3. Must be tax compliant and not have any open tax or fraud issues

Eligible products

Eligible products must fulfil the following conditions;

1. Must be Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 systems
2. Must provide evidence that system delivers ESMAP criteria (Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3)
3. Must have at least ONE of the following documentations;
   1. Lighting Global (LG) approval, OR
   2. Lighting Global Initial Screening Method (LG ISM) approval, OR
   3. UNBS valid certification

 Service Contract

Successful candidates will be required to sign a Service Contract with Private Sector Foundation Uganda.

Requirements; Applicants must submit the following;

A fully-filled application form

• Proof of business registration.
• Details of physical business address/location.
• Tax compliance
• Evidence of Company and Product Eligibility

How to apply

• Download the application form and guidelines

• All interested enterprises shall complete the application form and email their applications to; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , CC: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Application Deadline

Interested Enterprises are required to submit their applications by 22^nd November 2020, 5pm.

Late submissions will not be accepted.

For clarification purposes only, the Fund Manager’s address is:

Executive Director

Attention: The Fund Officer, Results Based Financing (RBF) Pilot

Organization: Private Sector Foundation Uganda

Street Address: Plot 43, Nakasero Road

City: Kampala

ZIP Code: P.O. Box 7683

Country: Uganda

Telephone:   +256 312 263 849; +256 312 263 850

Facsimile number: +256 312 266 440

Electronic mail address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ,

                                           CC: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Requests for clarification should be received by the PSFU no later than: Five days before submission deadline

APPLICATION  GUIDELINES

1. Background

The Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) in partnership with Energising Development (EnDev) Uganda (GIZ) and funding from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is piloting a Result-Based Financing (RBF) scheme for off-grid solar companies in Uganda. The project's objective is to increase energy access through solar home systems (SHS) to last-mile households in Uganda by incentivising off-grid solar companies to develop sustainable business models towards reaching the last mile. The RBF scheme is designed to provide economic incentives to companies selling solar home systems to expand reach into more rural and remote areas that are associated with prohibitive barriers in terms of higher costs and risks. The incentives under the RBF scheme will support solar companies to offset part of the cost and risk players experience when targeting new and more remote geographical segments. Eligible participants will be required to sign participant agreements with the Fund Manager (PSFU).

The Last-Mile RBF scheme is open to all off-grid solar companies operating in Uganda.

The project strategy is to temporarily  lower the cost of extending off-grid solar companies service coverage for SHS to last-mile areas and provide a risk protection mechanism for customer payment defaults.

2. Description of the Last-mile RBF Incentives

The Last-Mile RBF scheme offers three (3) lines of support for SHS companies:

Customer Remoteness RBF- this is intended to mitigate higher cost of customer acquisition and after sales service sales made to remote customers, with an incentive based on customer location using the project's Remoteness Index and adjustment for the duration of warranty contract.

Asset Financing RBF- mitigates risk of reduced repayment/increased payment default rates, with incentives based on longer shelf time for systems bought on cash basis, and, delayed payments for PAYG systems.

Customer Default RBF (Optional) -to pay customer-specific partial compensation for losses made due to customer default on payments.

Note: The Customer Remoteness RBF is offered for all systems. The Asset Financing RBF is offered for Tier 2 and Tier 3 systems only. The Customer Default RBF is offered to Tier 2 and Tier 3 sales with PAYG model or similar payment plan options.

3.  Eligibility criteria

The following shall be considered to approve participants and products under the RBF scheme:

3.1  Evidence for participant approval

To participate in the Last-Mile RBF pilot, the entity must fulfill the following conditions:

1. Must be duly registered and operating in Uganda.
2. Must be for-profit company. The company must provide documentation that it is a registered for- profit company in Uganda, for example the Memorandum & articles of association (shareholding pages & Directors).
3. Must be tax compliant and not have any open tax or fraud issues (Attach tax compliance certificate)
4. Shall provide other relevant evidence, for example to understand the extent to which the sales are subsidized by another project/dono

3.2   Evidence for Product eligibility

Products that qualify for registration in this scheme should meet the following criteria:

1. Must be Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 systems (Attach proving documents)
2. Must provide evidence that system delivers ESMAP criteria (Tier 1, Tier 2 or 3). The ESMAP Tier categories are described in detail in this link.

3.3   Evidence that quality is sufficiently high

Eligible products must have at least one of the following documentation for approval:

1. Proof that product is Lighting Global (LG) approve Send test or provide link to LG page.
2. Full test results of the Lighting Global Initial Screening Method (ISM) with an indication that the product would likely have passed a full LG test
   • The full test results must be submitted with the applicatio
   • The test results must clearly indicate that the system “would likely have passed” the LG t
   • In addition,  the  participant  shall provide  evidence  of two-year back-to-back  battery warranty

3. Proof that product has a valid certificate (All checks with “PASS” or “complies”) from the Uganda Bureau of Standard, combined with ICE certification on the batteries.
   • The test results should be attac
   • Also, the participant shall provide evidence of two-year back-to-back battery warrant

Note: Participants with component-based systems (i.e. not complete kits) cannot be certified using the Lighting Global framework and are limited to option (3) above.

If a product doesn’t apply for the capacity criteria for a Tier 2 system, it could still confirm to Tier 2 by service. In this case, sufficient evidence must be submitted, that the solar system covers the energy demand for at least 4 hours during daytime and 2 hours at night.

General product eligibility guidelines:

1. The participating solar company (the participant) includes the full product and operational costs (initial fee, payment plan and import costs) in the end-user price of a solar product.

1. If the company’s sales are already subsidized through another donor project, they cannot be eligible for incentives under the RBF scheme.

1. If a participant receives funding for marketing, market entry, organisational development, etc. they therefore do not subsidise the products, but the operational costs of product delivery. This is temporarily allowed, if the participant explains how they plan to move away from this in the futur
2. A participant must register with at least one eligible product from the outset.
3. New products  can be  added  throughout  the  RBF  period  by  submitting  the  form  with  relevant certificates to PSFU.

4.  Application Process

The application form and guidelines shall be made available to the public through newspaper adverts, the PSFU website, and the Sun Connect newsletter. PSFU will also circulate the call for applications through Uganda Solar Energy Association (USEA) and contacting known solar companies by email. PSFU will also host an information workshop at the start of each application period.

A two-stage application process shall be applied.

In the first application stage, interested companies shall complete the Application Form and submit the signed application form to PSFU. PSFU and  EnDev shall  review the applications and shortlist successful applicants. Shortlisted applicants will then be invited to submit detailed product information.

In the second application stage, eligible companies shall give prove about the eligibility of their products, as it is described under 3.2 and 3.3.

Review of the product application shall be done jointly by the PSFU and EnDev. Upon approval, successful applicants will be asked to sign a Service Contract with PSFU which includes information on deadlines for claim submission, minimum claim size and last possible claim submission under the agreement. In addition, the successful applicants shall receive the participant excel file upon signing of the agreement. PSFU will communicate to unsuccessful applicants the results of the process including future opportunities.

5.  Claim submission

The participant excel file is going to be provided to every participating company. In this file, all sales and defaults must be documented in the giving structure. In the excel sheet, it is explained which information are necessary for each customer.

Claims can be submitted quarterly, must include at least 200 sales (a maximum of 125 Tier 1 sales can be included).  In the first claim companies can submit at least 100 sales.

5.  Reporting Requirements for Verification

All sales and defaults are going to be checked by an Independent Verification Agent (IVA). This is done by paper trail, phone verification and site visits.

Participants must therefore provide the following information/data for verification purposes:

• Clear record of sales  to  client,  including  name,  gender,  location  (GPS  and  address)  and  phone number of the end-customer; the type of the products sold; sales price, cost and installation d
• Record of warranty statements for the products

Note: The percentage of eligible  and ineligible sales has a  direct influence on  the amount of paid out incentive.

6.  How to apply

• The application form and guidelines are available on the PSFU website at www.psfuganda.org
• All Interested Enterprises shall complete the application form and submit their applications electronically to; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,CC: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

7.  Application deadline

The first application phase1 shall commence on Monday 9th November 2020 and close on 22nd November 2020, 5:00pm.

Note:

A virtual information workshop will be held on 17th November 2020 at 10:00 AM. During this workshop, interested companies will be able to ask questions and get clarification on the RBF.

For inquiries, please contact:

The Fund Officer, Results Based Financing (RBF) pilot. Private sector Foundation Uganda

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: +256 789532670

For project inquiries, please contact;

Francis Kajura

The Fund Officer, Results Based Financing (RBF) Pilot.

Private sector Foundation Uganda

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: +256 789532670