R E T R O

Solar panels in Meru: size, cost and payback

With about 5.58 peak sun hours a day, below the average of 5.8 across Kenya's main towns, Meru is a practical place for solar. The table shows the panels, battery, estimated cost and payback for three typical users, from a small home to a small shop, priced at KSh 22 per kWh electricity.

The numbers

Example	Panels	Battery	Estimated cost	Payback
Small home (lights, TV, fridge): 5 kWh/day	1.1 kWp	1.0 kWh	KES 174,076	4.3 years
Family home with water pump: 10 kWh/day	2.2 kWp	2.1 kWh	KES 317,008	4.0 years
Small shop or office: 20 kWh/day	4.5 kWp	4.2 kWh	KES 634,016	4.0 years

Worked with 5.58 peak sun hours a day and an electricity price of KES 22/kWh, standard-quality equipment and 4 hours of battery backup. Estimates only; get quotes from local installers.

Worth knowing

Meru sits at about 1,579 m above sea level. Sunshine peaks in February at about 6.87 hours a day and is lowest in July at about 4.17, a seasonal drop of 39%. That is a large swing: if you rely on solar without the grid, size your panels and battery for the weaker months, not the yearly average.

Size your own system for Meru →

Questions

How many peak sun hours does Meru get?

About 5.58 hours a day on average over the year, below the average of 5.8 across Kenya's main towns. Source: Global Solar Atlas long-term averages.

Which month is weakest for solar in Meru?

July, at about 4.17 peak sun hours a day. The strongest is February, at about 6.87. Off-grid systems should be sized with the weaker months in mind.

What electricity price do these estimates use?

KSh 22 per kWh, the typical Kenyan household rate including charges. Payback depends heavily on this figure, so enter your own rate from your bill in the calculator.

How do I size a system for my own home or business?

Use the free calculator. Enter your appliances or your electricity bill, and it applies Meru's sun hours to suggest panels, battery and inverter sizes.

Are these costs quotes?

No. They are estimates for standard-quality equipment with 4 hours of battery backup. Ask local installers for quotes before you buy.

Effective Date: 1 January 2026 | Last Updated: August 2026

IndustryAI ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights.

1. Information We Collect

Account Data: Name, email address, password (hashed), and organisation details provided during registration.
Usage Data: Pages visited, features used, AI job history, and session timestamps collected automatically.
Uploaded Content: Documents, images, or files you submit to our AI tools (e.g. electricity bills, house photos, receipts, invoices, quotations and contracts). These are processed to deliver results and not shared with third parties.
Payment Data: Billing name, card last 4 digits, and transaction IDs. Full card details are handled by PCI-DSS-compliant processors (Pesapal, PayPal, M-Pesa) and never stored on our servers.
Device & Browser Data: IP address, browser type, operating system, and referral URLs collected via server logs and analytics.

2. How We Use Your Information

Deliver and improve our AI-powered services (house design, solar planning, business tools).
Process subscriptions, payments, and send service-related communications.
Personalise your experience and surface relevant features.
Detect fraud, enforce our Terms of Service, and maintain platform security.
Comply with applicable laws and respond to lawful requests.

3. Data Sharing

We do not sell your personal data. We share information only with:

Service Providers: vendors that run parts of the service for us, under data-processing terms:
- Amazon Web Services (AWS S3) — storage of files you upload and documents we generate;
- Resend — sending account, receipt and newsletter emails;
- Google Analytics — aggregate statistics on how the website is used;
- Cloudflare Turnstile — telling people from bots on some free tools;
- an SMS provider (Africa's Talking or Twilio) — only if you reset your password by SMS;
- our hosting provider, which runs the servers the platform operates on.
AI Providers: Content you submit is sent to third-party AI APIs (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq, Stability AI) solely to generate the output you requested. These providers process it as our sub-processors and do not use it to train their models.
Legal Authorities: When required by law or to protect rights and safety.

4. Data Retention

Account data is retained for the duration of your subscription. Uploaded files and AI outputs are retained for 12 months then purged unless you delete them earlier from your dashboard — except where a product keeps records for a legal period, as the Document Review Portal does (§8).

When you request deletion, we run a two-stage process so that an accidental or disputed request can still be undone:

Day 30 — deactivation. Your organisation is disabled and personal details (name, email, profile photo) are anonymised. Your content is retained but inaccessible.
Day 120 — erasure. Your database schema is dropped and all remaining data is permanently deleted. Recovery is no longer possible after this point.

You can cancel the request yourself before deactivation, and ask support to restore the account between deactivation and erasure.

5. Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction — including under the EU/UK GDPR and the Kenya Data Protection Act 2019 — you have the right to access, correct, delete, export, or restrict processing of your personal data, and to object to certain processing.

Export: Download a machine-readable copy of your personal data at any time from your Privacy & Data settings.
Deletion: Organisation owners can request erasure from the same page; the timeline is set out in §4. Other members should email the address below and we will remove their membership and personal data within 30 days. In both cases we retain records we are legally required to keep, such as tax records of completed payments.
Other rights: Contact privacy@industryai.africa. We respond within 30 days.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority — in Kenya, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner.

6. Security

We use TLS encryption in transit, encryption at rest for stored files, role-based access controls, tenant-level database isolation, and malware scanning of uploaded files. No system is perfectly secure; please use a strong, unique password and enable two-factor authentication.

7. International Transfers

Our infrastructure and some sub-processors (notably AI and email providers) are located outside Kenya, including in the United States and the European Union. Where personal data is transferred internationally, we rely on the sub-processor's standard contractual clauses or an equivalent safeguard.

8. Document Review Portal

The Document Review Portal reads business documents — receipts, invoices, quotations, contracts and supplier certificates — so that you can check and file them. In addition to the rest of this policy:

What it holds: the files you upload or scan, the pages we make from them, and what is read off them: supplier and customer names, KRA PINs, phone numbers, amounts, VAT, eTIMS numbers, M-Pesa codes, contract terms and dates. It also holds what you and your colleagues change, approve or note, with who did it and when.
Other people's details: your documents often name other people and businesses (a supplier, a contractor, a director). For those details your organisation decides why they are processed and is responsible for having a lawful reason; we process them on your behalf, only to provide the portal.
AI reading, and where it happens: AI reading is off until an owner or admin of your workspace turns it on and accepts a notice; the date and version of that acceptance are recorded. With it on, the page images and text of each document are sent to Anthropic, our AI provider, which processes them outside Kenya (in the United States) to read them, and does not use them to train its models. With it off, documents are read on our own servers with text recognition, and nothing is sent to an AI provider. Contract review needs AI reading.
Checks are suggestions: the checks the portal makes — on KRA PINs, VAT, eTIMS details, contract terms and supplier certificates — are produced automatically to help you and your accountant. They are not tax or legal advice, a KRA verification, or a decision about anyone. A person in your workspace confirms every document before it is filed.
Sanctions screening: if you use supplier checks, a supplier's name is compared, on our servers, with the public sanctions lists published by the United Nations, the United States (OFAC), the European Union and the United Kingdom. A similar name is shown to you as a possible match for you to review; it is never treated as a finding that someone is sanctioned, and nothing is sent to those authorities or anyone else.
How long it is kept: documents are kept for the period your workspace sets — seven years unless an owner or admin changes it, and never less than five, the period Kenya's Tax Procedures Act requires for tax records — counted from the document's date, then deleted. Documents under a legal hold are kept until the hold is lifted. Deleting your account (§4) deletes them sooner, except records we must keep by law.
On your phone: in the IndustryAI apps, a scan that hasn't been sent yet waits on your phone, encrypted with a key held in the phone's secure storage, and is deleted from the phone once our servers have it.

9. Changes to This Policy

Material changes will be communicated by email and/or an in-app notice at least 14 days before taking effect. Continued use of the platform constitutes acceptance.

10. Contact

IndustryAI — Privacy Team
Email: privacy@industryai.africa
Registered in Kenya.

Effective Date: 1 January 2026 | Last Updated: August 2026

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of the IndustryAI platform and services. By creating an account or using any feature, you agree to these Terms.

1. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and capable of entering a binding contract. By using IndustryAI on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you are authorised to bind that organisation to these Terms.

2. Permitted Use

Use the platform only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms.
Do not share your credentials, resell access, or create multiple free accounts.
Do not attempt to reverse-engineer, scrape, or disrupt the platform or its AI systems.
Do not upload content that is illegal, harmful, deceptive, or infringes third-party rights.

3. AI-Generated Content

AI outputs (floor plans, solar designs, business plans, etc.) are provided for informational and planning purposes only. They do not constitute professional architectural, engineering, legal, or financial advice. You are responsible for verifying designs with qualified professionals before construction or investment.

AI systems can produce inaccurate or incomplete output. Cost estimates, structural dimensions, financial projections, and regulatory references must be independently verified before you rely on them.

4. Subscription & Payment

Subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly or annual basis.
You may cancel at any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period.
We reserve the right to change pricing with 30 days' notice. Existing subscribers retain their price until their next renewal after the notice period.
Refunds are governed by our Refund Policy.

5. Usage Limits

Each plan includes a stated allowance of AI generations and exports. We may throttle or pause generation once an allowance is exhausted, and may apply fair-use limits to prevent abuse that degrades service for other customers. Current allowances are shown on the pricing page and in your account.

6. Intellectual Property

Platform: IndustryAI and all underlying technology, trademarks, and brand elements are our property.
Your Content: You retain ownership of data and files you upload. You grant us a limited licence to process your content solely to deliver the requested service.
AI Outputs: Subject to applicable law, AI-generated outputs produced from your inputs are assigned to you for personal and commercial use.

7. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, IndustryAI's total liability for any claim arising from use of the platform is limited to the fees you paid in the 3 months preceding the claim. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, or incidental damages, including loss of profit or data. Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

8. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account immediately for material breach of these Terms, fraudulent activity, or non-payment. You may close your account at any time from your Privacy & Data settings. Upon termination, your data will be handled per our Privacy Policy.

9. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of Kenya. Disputes shall first be addressed through good-faith negotiation; unresolved disputes will be submitted to binding arbitration in Nairobi.

10. Changes to These Terms

We will provide 14 days' advance notice of material changes. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

11. Contact

IndustryAI — Legal Team
Email: legal@industryai.africa

Effective Date: 1 January 2026 | Last Updated: August 2026

This Refund Policy explains when you can get your money back, how to ask, and how long it takes. It applies to all IndustryAI subscriptions and one-off purchases.

1. 14-Day Money-Back Guarantee (New Subscriptions)

If you are a new subscriber, you may request a full refund within 14 days of your first payment for any reason. We will refund the full amount to your original payment method.

This guarantee applies once per customer and covers your first paid subscription only.

2. Renewals

Renewal payments are not automatically refundable, because you are notified before each renewal and can cancel at any time. However:

If you were charged for a renewal you had already cancelled, we refund it in full.
If you contact us within 7 days of an unintended renewal and have not used your allowance in that period, we will refund it.

3. One-Off Purchases (Report Unlocks, Add-Ons, Credit Packs)

Before delivery: fully refundable.
After delivery: a one-off purchase that has been generated and delivered (for example a PDF export or an unlocked report) is generally not refundable, because the AI cost has already been incurred and the output cannot be returned.
Exception: if the output failed, was not delivered, or was materially defective, we refund it in full or regenerate it at your choice. See §4.

4. Service Failures — Always Refundable

Regardless of any time limit above, you are entitled to a refund where:

A generation you paid for failed and could not be completed.
You were charged more than once for the same purchase.
You were charged after cancelling.
The platform was unavailable for a substantial part of your billing period.

5. What Is Not Refundable

Dissatisfaction with the content of an AI output that was generated and delivered as described. AI output is a planning aid, not professional advice — see Terms §3.
Accounts terminated for breach of our Terms of Service, including fraud or abuse.
Allowance that went unused during a billing period.

6. How to Request a Refund

Email billing@industryai.africa from the address on your account, including your account email and the approximate date and amount of the charge. You do not need to give a reason for a §1 request.

We acknowledge every request within 2 business days and decide within 5 business days.

7. How Long Refunds Take

Card (Pesapal): 5–10 business days to appear on your statement after we approve it.
PayPal: typically 3–5 business days.
M-Pesa: typically 1–3 business days.

Refunds are always returned to the original payment method. We cannot refund to a different account.

8. Chargebacks

If you believe you have been charged in error, please contact us first — we can almost always resolve it faster than a chargeback. Raising a chargeback without contacting us may result in your account being suspended while the dispute is investigated.

9. Statutory Rights

This policy is in addition to, and does not limit, any refund or cancellation rights you have under applicable consumer law, including the Kenya Consumer Protection Act and, for EU/UK consumers, statutory withdrawal rights.

10. Contact

IndustryAI — Billing
Email: billing@industryai.africa