Unimet
Prepaid water and electricity for South African estates
The challenge
On a prepaid estate, a household only finds out its electricity or water credit has run out when the lights go off or the taps run dry. Balances sit on separate meters, topping up means a trip to a vendor or a clunky portal, and there is no easy way to see where the money went. Unimet needed a single, trustworthy place for residents to see what their home has left, top up in seconds, and be warned in time to do something about it.
The solution
We designed and built the Unimet member app: a prepaid wallet for a home's electricity and water. Residents see their balance the moment they open it, top up either utility in a few taps, and track exactly what the home used against the month before. Low-credit warnings arrive days ahead, in time to act rather than as a fright, and a shared design system keeps every Unimet screen consistent, so the two utilities are never confused.
One wallet
Electricity & water
Seconds
To top up
Early
Low-credit warnings
In their words
“Our residents used to find out they were out of credit when the lights went off. Now they see it coming, top up in a few taps and know exactly where the money went. Handee built the whole thing, from the meter to the app, and it just works.”
What we built
A wallet, not a meter reading
The member app treats the home's utilities like money in a wallet: visible, topped up in seconds and never a surprise.
- 01
One balance for the home
The balance is the first thing a household sees, set large on a mint panel with an estimate of how many days of cover are left.
- 02
Top up in seconds
Either utility, in a few taps, paid by card, and confirmed the moment it lands.
- 03
Warnings that arrive early
A heads-up days ahead, in time to act rather than as a fright: "about 2 days left at your current pace".
- 04
Usage you can read
Every top-up and every day's electricity and water use, in rands and units, tracked against the month before.
- 05
Built from one set of parts
The balance, the keypad, the figures and the warnings are the same working components everywhere, so behaviour is identical on every screen.
- 06
Green is electricity. Blue is water.
Five colours, each with one job, and evenly spaced figures so a balance never jitters as it changes. The same system on every Unimet screen.
In a nutshell
Unimet gives every household on the estate one place to see, top up and understand its electricity and water. Residents sign in to a secure member portal, pay by card, and always know where they stand, while the next version of the app, with a combined view of both meters and a month-by-month picture of use, is already being designed on the same system. See the live design system on the Unimet hub .
Unimet gives every household on the estate one place to see, top up and understand its electricity and water. Residents sign in to a secure member portal, pay by card, and always know where they stand, while the next version of the app, with a combined view of both meters and a month-by-month picture of use, is already being designed on the same system. See the live design system on the Unimet hub.
Gallery
From the meter to the app
The hardware behind the wallet, the people who rely on it, and the same readings in a resident's hand.
Keep exploring
From our insights
Practical writing on how we build, from the first prototype to a fleet in the field.
