Pay bills with mobile money in Tanzania: LUKU, water, DSTV, government (2026)

Tanzania's bill-pay stack on mobile money goes well beyond LUKU. Water (DAWASA), satellite TV (DSTV, Azam), government services (GePG), and recurring household bills all settle via M-Pesa, Mixx by Yas and Airtel Money menus. Here's the per-biller flow and which wallet supports what.

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✓ Verified June 2026.Bill-pay steps and USSD codes verified against TANESCO and the operator sources (vodacom.co.tz, yas.co.tz/mixx-by-yas, airtel.co.tz).

LUKU (TANESCO electricity)

The biggest single bill-pay use case in Tanzania. Every major wallet has LUKU at the top of its Pay Bill menu. See the dedicated LUKU step-by-step for the per-wallet USSD path, meter-number step, and token-not-received recovery.

DAWASA (Dar es Salaam water)

DAWASA bills settle via the Pay Bill menu on M-Pesa (*150*00#), Mixx by Yas (*150*01#) and Airtel Money (*150*60#). You'll need your DAWASA account number from the paper bill or the last SMS. Enter the account number, the TSh amount due, confirm PIN. DAWASA returns a billing-side SMS within minutes confirming the payment posted.

DSTV / Azam TV (satellite TV decoder)

DSTV and Azam subscriptions renew through the wallet menus using your decoder smartcard number. Mixx by Yas and M-Pesa both surface DSTV / Azam as a named Pay Bill option; Airtel Money carries the same. The decoder reactivates within minutes of the wallet confirmation SMS; if it doesn't, a power cycle on the decoder + 'fix errors' from the on-screen menu triggers a refresh.

GePG (Government electronic Payment Gateway)

GePG is the unified rail for paying any Tanzanian government fee — passport renewal, driver's licence, court fees, business registration, tax payments. The agency issues a GePG control number; you enter it in the wallet's Pay Bill menu under GePG, type the TSh amount the agency told you, confirm PIN. The payment posts directly to the agency, and the wallet SMS plus the agency's confirmation are the receipts that count.

Airtime + data top-up

Self-recharge and recharge-someone-else are zero-fee on every major Tanzanian wallet — operators waive the operator fee on their own airtime/data purchases because it drives usage of the connectivity business. Cross-operator top-up (e.g. buying Airtel airtime from an M-Pesa wallet) is available but typically attracts the standard cross-network send fee.

Bill-pay steps and USSD codes verified June 2026 against TANESCO and the Vodacom / Yas / Airtel operator sources; reviewed quarterly.

Frequently asked questions

Are bill-pay transactions taxed in Tanzania?

The operator fee on a bill-pay carries 10% excise + 18% VAT (the same fiscal layer as on send/withdraw fees). The government withdrawal levy that applied during 2021-2022 does NOT apply to bill payments — it was a cash-out levy specifically. Each biller may have its own published service fee.

Can I pay a government fee (passport, license, court) via GePG from any wallet?

Yes. GePG (Government electronic Payment Gateway) is supported on all major Tanzanian wallets — you receive a GePG control number from the agency, enter it in the wallet's Pay Bill menu, and the payment posts directly to the agency. M-Pesa and Mixx by Yas expose GePG as a top-level Pay Bill option.

Does the recipient (DAWASA, DSTV) confirm payment?

Yes — within minutes you should receive a billing-side SMS confirming the payment posted to your account number. If you don't, retain the wallet's SMS confirmation as proof; that's the document that's accepted in a billing-side dispute.