Can essential infrastructure drive the next wave of financial inclusion? Will utilities evolve into major players in consumer finance? And who should govern household data in this emerging market?
For more than a decade, Africa’s fintech story has been synonymous with mobile money. Services such as M-Pesa reconfigured payments, savings and micro-lending, creating new business models and bringing millions into formal financial activity. They showed that innovation could leapfrog traditional banking and still achieve scale.
But as mobile money matures, a quieter debate is taking shape among regulators, utilities, investors and policymakers across the continent. The central question is deceptively simple: if mobile behaviour powered the last era of inclusion, could everyday utility behaviour power the next?
At the heart of this discussion sits a largely unglamorous device — the prepaid utility meter. Millions of these meters now sit inside African homes and small businesses, continuously recording consumption and payment behaviour. Unlike mobile usage, which can be sporadic, utility use is constant and essential. Households may skip digital transactions for days, but they rarely stop needing electricity or water.
That distinction matters. Mobile data is often fragmented across SIM cards, devices and wallets. Meter data, by contrast, is tied to a fixed location and rooted in basic household needs. In countries where large segments of the population remain “thin file” or invisible to formal credit systems, this stability offers a potentially transformative source of behavioural insight.
A growing number of firms are experimenting with utility-linked finance. Some provide simple emergency credit when prepaid balances run out; others are testing integrations with meter vendors or billing platforms. The sector remains early-stage and uneven in quality.
Among the more ambitious entrants is Finergi, which has pursued an explicitly intellectual-property-led strategy rather than treating utility finance as a short-term product. The company is led by Avi Lasarow, CEO and cofounder, who previously helped scale Prenetics into a global diagnostics business and took it through its NASDAQ IPO. Analysts note that his approach is consistent: secure defensible patents first, embed technology in regulated systems, and treat innovation as infrastructure rather than a marketing add-on.
Finergi’s model does not rely on a consumer app. Instead, its architecture is designed to sit behind the meter and within utility workflows. Its patents seek to formalise how utility data can trigger, govern and recover small advances in a way that aligns with existing utility operations. This matters because simple stopgap loans are easy to copy; deep, multi-vendor integrations and embedded recovery mechanisms are not.
In practice, the system works as follows. When a prepaid balance runs low and a household faces disconnection, a small automated advance can be extended. The consumer does not download a new app or negotiate a separate loan. The support is embedded in the meter experience and repaid gradually through future top-ups.
Proponents argue this addresses structural weaknesses in earlier mobile-based lending. SIM swapping, handset changes and wallet inactivity have often undermined identity and repayment. A meter, by contrast, is fixed to a home and used continuously, creating a more stable behavioural footprint.
For households, the immediate benefit is continuity of essential services during short-term cash stress. For utilities, potential gains include fewer disconnections, smoother revenue flows and lower reconnection costs. For regulators, the model could reduce reliance on subsidies while improving service resilience.
Perhaps the most disruptive implication concerns the role of utilities themselves. If utility-linked finance scales, electricity and water providers could shift from pure infrastructure operators to influential financial intermediaries. They already possess near-universal reach, trusted billing relationships and rich behavioural data on household spending patterns.
With appropriate governance, utilities could offer structured hardship buffers or micro-advances as part of standard service. This reframes the utility not just as an energy provider, but as a foundational financial actor embedded in daily life.
This also reshapes competition. The next battleground in African fintech may not simply pit banks against digital lenders; it could see financial institutions competing with utilities themselves. Over time, utilities may become significant players in consumer finance, especially for low-income households that banks have long neglected.
Beyond credit, the deeper opportunity lies in meter data. These devices capture how families budget under pressure, how they prioritise spending, and how they respond to economic shocks. If governed responsibly, this data could complement banking and telecom information to create a more accurate picture of household reality.
Banks see deposits.
Telecoms see wallet flows.
Meters reveal how households actually live.
Across much of Africa, where inequality, unemployment and energy access remain acute, this visibility could expand financial identity for millions. Combining utility, telecom and banking data — under strong regulation — could enable fairer risk assessment than any single dataset alone.
Yet the risks are real. Integrating with national and municipal utilities requires technical depth, political sensitivity and long-term partnership. This is not a digital app that can scale overnight; it is critical infrastructure that must work reliably for vulnerable households.
Governance will be decisive. Utility data is sensitive. Clear rules on consent, transparency, pricing, dispute resolution and consumer protection will determine whether this model empowers households or entrenches new forms of dependency.
Finergi positions itself not as a lender, but as an infrastructure layer that enables utilities to participate in financial inclusion safely and at scale. Its patent portfolio is designed to reassure utilities that integrations are robust, defensible and interoperable across vendors.
Some analysts see this as a potential third wave of African fintech. The first wave focused on payments. The second centred on credit. A third — rooted in essential infrastructure rather than discretionary finance — could tackle both inclusion and stability simultaneously.
If that proves correct, the humble utility meter — long dismissed as a mundane household fixture — could become one of Africa’s most important engines of financial identity and resilience.
Asked about this shift, Avi Lasarow said:
“The most transformative fintech innovation in Africa may not come through a smartphone screen, but through the quiet box on the wall that powers every home.”
Whether that quiet box becomes Africa’s next financial engine will depend on execution, regulation and trust — debates now playing out far beyond the energy sector.
Can essential infrastructure drive the next wave of financial inclusion? Will utilities evolve into major players in consumer finance? And who should govern household data in this emerging market? For more than a decade, Africa’s fintech story has been synonymous with mobile money. Services such as M-Pesa reconfigured payments, savings and micro-lending, creating new business
