On a serious note, LED light bulbs can run on just a trickle. A few solar cells can stash enough juice in a conventional lead-acid battery for a couple of hours of reading.

Night, in central Africa, lasts 12 hours, month in month out. So a couple hours of reading is about all the use most people will need. Basic, minimal reading light is already radically cheaper than it used to be, even far from utility lines.

One difficulty with stringing power lines in Africa is that copper is valuable enough to be worth stealing. That’s hindered the electrification of the Soweto district of Johannesburg.