Beacon Power Services signs multi-year deal to back African Utility Group

Beacon Power Services, a South African firm that helps utilities cut power losses and modernise ageing grids, agreed to become a financial sponsor and technical partner of the Association of Power Utilities of Africa, the companies said Thursday, in a deal that runs through 2028.

The agreement, disclosed at APUA’s first Scientific Committee meeting of its new mandate, will see Beacon fund research, workshops and digital-framework work for the Abidjan-based association, which counts 58 member utilities across 48 African countries. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Beacon, founded by Bim Adisa, has built its business around a wager that many African utilities lose more revenue to outdated metering, poor grid visibility and non-technical losses than they could ever recoup through new generation capacity alone. The company sells analytics tools meant to help utilities see where power is leaking out of their networks, through theft, faulty billing or aging infrastructure, and fix it.

“Access to reliable electricity continues to be one of Africa’s most pressing development challenges,” Adisa said in a statement. He said the partnership would let Beacon “invest in the technical expertise and digital transformation that will drive Africa’s power sector.”

For APUA, the tie-up adds a corporate backer with grid-analytics know-how to a body that has functioned since 1970 largely as a coordinating forum for state utilities, sharing technical standards, training staff and pushing for closer integration of power markets across the continent. It was known until recently as the Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electric Power in Africa.

“Partnering with Beacon strengthens the Scientific Committee by providing valuable technical expertise and support,” said Abel Didier Tella, APUA’s director general. He said the arrangement would help the group run more workshops and build longer-term skills among member utilities.

Under the deal, Beacon will apply its data and grid-intelligence tools to help APUA members improve network visibility and operational efficiency, pitched by both sides as a contribution toward the association’s long-standing goal of universal electricity access on the continent. More than 500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity, according to International Energy Agency estimates, and utilities across the region continue to grapple with revenue losses that limit their ability to invest in new infrastructure.

The sponsorship is the latest example of private technology and analytics firms positioning themselves alongside pan-African utility bodies as those groups look for outside expertise and funding to supplement stretched member budgets. Beacon has pitched itself as a specialist in this niche, working with utilities on revenue recovery and grid digitisation rather than competing with equipment makers or independent power producers.

Neither company disclosed the size of the sponsorship or specific milestones tied to the three-year mandate, which runs alongside APUA’s current 2025-2028 leadership term.