Two-dollar daily rental batteries power businesses in Tembisa township

In Tembisa, a township northeast of Johannesburg, small business owners and residents are using daily rental solar batteries to stay open and charge phones amid frequent power cuts. Anselmo Munghabe, 37, said people flock to his tin-shack barbershop to plug in phones, paying 5 rand (about 30 cents) per plug, after his community has been without electricity since last April.

The batteries are rented from a program called BPowerd, launched last year by the oil company BP. Customers pick up batteries at nearby gas stations equipped with solar panels; rentals range from 300 to 1,000 watts and are meant to power lights, televisions, laptops and some appliances for several hours before being returned and recharged the next day.

Mr. Munghabe rents one for 40 rand ($2.35) per day, and said the fee is covered and then some by money earned charging neighbors. Residents use the batteries for makeshift music studios, convenience stores, taverns, church services and medical devices such as nebulizers. The system arrives as nine in 10 South Africans are connected to the national grid but face frequent cuts, with poor, dense urban areas particularly affected because overloads can break transformers.

A similar program by a company called MOPO, launched about a decade ago, has about 125,000 batteries in seven African nations and charges batteries at modest community structures to reach rural areas.

Key Topics

World, Bpowerd, Tembisa, Bp, Mopo, Battery Rentals