Scaling digital solutions in the water sector through prepaid smart metering and mobile money

 

SEVRES, FRANCE, 12 February, 2021 – Social enterprise CityTaps has joined Business Call to Action (BCtA) with the aim to connect 3 million low-income individuals to water utility networks by 2025. Already scaling projects in Niger, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ecuador, CityTaps also helps reconnect city dwellers in developing countries who have a disconnected water supply due to debt.

Globally, in 2015 an estimated 50-60% of water utility subscribers could not pay their monthly bills and faced disconnection due being behind on payments; about 25% are disconnected at any time according to research by CityTaps. Disconnected urban residents turn to unreliable and low-quality substitutes, including public water points, delivery services, and chlorine pills, which are often five to 100 times more expensive than reliable utility piped water.
 
Meanwhile, water providers lose much of the water produced because they do not have the data to optimize their operations.
 
To resolve these challenges, CityTaps has developed CTSuite, the only prepaid, smart metering solution, which allows subscribers to Pay-As-They-Go for at-home water, whilst also helping utilities considerably improve their finances. By partnering with CityTaps, water utilities can benefit from both the financial advantage of the prepayment and the data that the CTSuite system provides. Their subscribers can also benefit from CTSuite’s flexible, transparent, and convenient PAYGO system, as they are able to make payments from any phone, at any time, and for any amount, to suit their financial situation.
 
Running water in the home is thus substantially cheaper, more convenient, and healthier than any alternative. This innovative solution has the potential to dramatically improve the lives and well-being of millions of people who do not have access to water at home. The CityTaps system also allows water utilities to reconnect disconnected subscribers by allowing them to repay their debts over time in affordable, personalized, daily micropayments.
 
CTMeters connect to the internet and transfer payments in real-time so that water utilities can improve their cash flow and balance sheets, allowing them to expand coverage to new PAYGO subscribers, as well as improve their existing network. CTSuite offers the only smart PAYGO meters that make data accessible online to help utilities monitor their network in real-time, whilst being 100% compliant to any tariff plans mandated by the utility or local regulatory authority.

CityTaps’ business model is focused on selling or leasing CTSuite for an upfront fee and a monthly per-unit fee for water utilities. In the case of leasing, the upfront fee is replaced by lease payments over time to CityTaps.
 
 “CityTaps provides the only solution that lets low-income earners pay-as-they-go for at- home water; and provides utilities with the water and financial resources to serve everyone,” said Grégoire Landel, CEO and Founder of CityTaps.
 
For further information:
 
BCtA: bcta@undp.org
 
CityTaps: Debby Montelly at debby@citytaps.org
 
About CityTaps: Established in 2015, CityTaps is a French-based social enterprise with a vision to be an innovative force in providing running water to every urban home. Today, they are running projects in Niger, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Ecuador. CityTaps is the recipient of numerous awards and was labelled one of the Solar Impulse Foundation’s 1000 Efficient Solutions in 2020.