With 208 million individuals spread across 32 million households, Pakistan is the world’s fifth-largest country in terms of population. Given its size, the utility bill payment space is substantial and capturing these payments within the digital ecosystem comprises a viable
use-case. Moreover, it has the potential to provide a significant push to financial inclusion, inducing customers to use digital means for other payments and financial services. Since payments are often premised to be a precursor to using a wider array of financial services, it is important to establish the progress made and identify persisting gaps in terms of the digitisation
of utility bill payments.

Supply-side statistics demonstrate that domestic utility service consumers have been using multiple modes as an alternative to the conventional means of making utility payments, including automated teller machines (ATMs), mobile wallets (m-wallets), internet banking,
mobile phone apps, and interactive voice response (IVR) banking. To study this shift in consumer behaviour, it is vital to review the penetration level of these payment modes vis-à-vis total spending on utility services to ascertain under-utilised potential.