Utilities for your house in Mozambique

Tap Water

In Maputo water is provided by Aguas de Maputo. This is not recommended for drinking. Some people (including me) use it for everything else, teeth cleaning, cooking etc, while others use drinking water for some of those tasks. Most houses come with a large water tank so you still get a water supply if there is a problem with the mains.

Water is billed every month. Someone will appear at your door with a paper bill. This can be paid at the Aguas de Maputo office (this will involve a lot of waiting) or via online banking. Each month's bill includes any previous bills that have not been paid. So, make sure when you get your first bill, you aren’t taking on any unpaid bills from previous tenants or your landlord. If you don’t pay for several months in a row or leave a debt for too long, they will cut off your water supply. Each bill has a unique code that must be used to pay that month's bill. So, unfortunately, if you lose the paper bill before paying it you have no choice but to go to the Aguas de Maputo office to pay

Drinking water

For drinking water most people get a delivery of the large 20 litre bottles of water that work with a water cooler. Of course you can get by with bottled water from the supermarket. You will need a water cooler machine to be able to use the big bottles. The most common approach is the large freestanding machines that plug in and cool the water. But much more simple, and cheaper, countertop stands with taps can also be bought and are handy for holidays. The larger electric stands can be bought from the water companies, but also from Builders Warehouse (Maputo / Matola) and other shops. When you start you have to decide how many large bottles you want. They can be quite expensive, but you only pay once. From then forward you pay a much smaller fee to swap empty bottles for full ones when the delivery truck comes. You need to ensure you have enough bottles to last between deliveries. Most deliveries come once a week, but there can always be rains or public holidays to cause disruption to the service. There are several drinking water businesses in Maputo including Namaacha Water, GES20 and others.

Electricity

Electricity is a state monopoly; Electricidade de Moçambique. The supply is actually good and Mozambique is one of the few countries in Southern Africa with enough electricity supply to meet the demand. The electricity can go off for a day for repairs, but these are usually planned in advance and you will be given a notice in advance about this. If you have a problem with your meter or electricity supply you will need to visit one of the EDM offices. Make sure you have plenty of time and patience when you go.
Electricity payments work on a system called Credelec. You have to buy electricity in advance and put it into the meter. As soon as you run out of credit, your electricity is cut off. Your first job is to find your meter. Most meters are near a door. Electricity is added using a numerical code. This can be added directly on the meter. Most meters also have a remote that goes with them inside the house. These will often give a warning beep when your credit is low. It is very easy to buy electricity credit. But, before you do, you need your meter number, which is printed on the front of your meter. You can buy Credelec using Mpesa (see the blog on mobile networks to see how this works). You can buy it at garages and shops. You can also buy codes via online banking. To buy a code you simply need to know your meter code and how much electricity (in Mts) you want to buy. You will then get a 16 digit code that you can enter into your meter. Although the system can be slightly annoying, cutting you off the moment you run out of credit, it does work well and is easy to use.

Internet service providers (ISP)

There have been a couple of businesses in Maputo that dominate the ISP market. This includes TV Cabo, Vodacom and Mcell. They have a range of packages of speeds, capped and uncapped internet and some like TV Cabo can also include TV bundles. These packages have been expensive in the past, with a 20Mbs unlimited connection with TV Cabo being almost $200 a month. However, the recent arrival of Starlink is starting to change that. Starlink is a satellite based system. The kit is ordered online on the website, but arrives within a day or two and with no issues about it getting into the country. The small receiver and router costs around $150 and then the service is around $30 a month, charged in Mts. When the receiver has a good field of view it can get speeds well over 50Mbs, and is uncapped which is well beyond other providers. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work for those in flats as the receiver needs to be able to see the majority of the sky to give a good service.

Bank accounts

Until you have a local bank account, everyday tasks like buying phone credit and electricity can be quite complicated. Once you have online banking all of this becomes much simpler. Getting a bank account is not easy and needs lots of paperwork. A separate blog will be written about this. There is too much information to include here. Once you have one there are a few things that it is worth knowing.

The online banking systems in Mozambique are new and not very robust. Online banking can go down for days at a time, as can intersystem connectivity. For example it may be that your online banking is working but its connection to Credelec will go down for three days.

Having an account with more than one bank can help overcome some of the system fragility issues mentioned above.

Moving money in or out of the country is very challenging through the banking system. Although it can be done via Paypal (but there are a number of fees and exchange rates to navigate on the way).

When getting cash out of a machine you can only get 5000Mts maximum at a time. But you can get several 5000Mts withdrawals in one go at the cash machine one after the other. However, if you try and get more than 5000Mts out at once the transaction will fail. Sometimes the system only lets you have one 5000Mts withdrawal and no more. You are usually more likely to be able to take more multiples out of 5000Mts if you use a cash machine belonging to your own bank. There used to be a limit of three 5000Mts withdrawals in one day, but this is no longer in place.

The card payment systems in Mozambique do not usually accept Mastercard.

Most bank accounts will give you a cheque book that can be made to make larger cash withdrawals

Gas

Gas cookers and Brais/BBQs require a bottled gas supply. Rented houses that need gas should come with a gas bottle, but at some stage you will need to change it. All gas bottles are branded and you can only swap your gas bottle for one of the same brand. Many gas stations sell bottled gas, but each usually only sells one brand. So, it can be a bit of a hit and miss journey from gas station to gas station to find one that sells the right brand. There are also some businesses that deliver gas, this can be easier if you are unsure where you can switch your brand.