A Blueprint for Digital Utilities in Côte d’Ivoire
On the southern coast of West Africa, Côte d’Ivoire is undergoing a transformation. With nearly 28 million people and one of the region’s fastest-growing economies, the country is pushing forward—not just in industry and infrastructure, but also in how basic services are delivered.
In cities like Abidjan and beyond, utilities have long struggled with outdated systems. Electricity and water were managed separately, often manually, and meters were patchwork of old and new technologies. For residents, that meant long waits, unpredictable billing, and limited transparency. For the utilities—CIE (electricity) and SODECI (water)—it meant high operational costs and little room to scale.
When our partner GS2E invited Cuculus to join the project in 2021, the goal was clear but ambitious: build one platform that could manage both electricity and water for millions of people. No siloed systems, no duplicate processes—just one unified, digital backbone.
Cuculus was brought in to design and deliver the smart metering platform that would tie everything together.
Together with Eranova, CIE, and SODECI, we began rolling out a national smart metering platform powered by ZONOS. The idea was simple: modern infrastructure for modern needs. But the execution required precision. The system was designed from the ground up to support up to 6 million meters—working across four manufacturers per utility. We built in support for diverse communication protocols like PLC, RF, mobile, and LoRaWAN to ensure no meter was left behind.
One of the biggest breakthroughs was smart prepayment. In many African countries, prepayment is the norm, but too often it’s a manual, error-prone process. We automated the entire flow: from a customer making a payment, to our vending solution verifying the account, to the token being securely sent to the meter. No queues. No confusion. Just power or water, ready to go.
Of course, it wasn’t all smooth. Integrating legacy meters using proprietary communication protocols—many of which were non-standard—was a major challenge. But we made it work. By doing so, we helped avoid large-scale meter replacements, saving significant costs and reducing waste.
Today, the same operators can manage electricity and water through one interface. They can track performance, monitor anomalies, and serve their customers faster and more efficiently. Field operations have been streamlined, and system visibility has increased dramatically. Most importantly, this project created something bigger: a fully operational model that can be adapted by utilities across Africa, even in regions with mixed infrastructure and legacy systems.
This project also contributes directly to several UN Sustainable Development Goals, including:
Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation);
Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy);
Goal 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).
By enabling access to reliable utilities, reducing operational inefficiencies, and digitizing service delivery, we’re supporting a more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable future.
We’re proud to have helped build this blueprint with our partners. It’s not just about meters or tokens—it’s about creating the digital infrastructure that supports everyday life, makes essential services more reliable, and lays the foundation for smarter, more sustainable cities.
