Paybill
Also known as: pay bill, M-PESA paybill, business paybill
Full definition
A paybill is one of the two Lipa na M-PESA merchant rails, alongside Buy Goods (till). It is issued to any business or institution that needs a per-customer reference on each incoming payment: utilities (KPLC, water companies), schools and universities, SACCOs, insurers, government (KRA, eCitizen 222222, SHIF, NSSF), landlords, subscription businesses, and betting operators.
The user flow is: pick Lipa na M-PESA, choose Pay Bill, enter the paybill number, enter the account number (which the merchant defines, and which the merchant uses to allocate the payment to a specific customer), enter the amount, enter the M-PESA PIN, confirm. Both sides receive an M-PESA SMS with a 10-character transaction code.
Sender-side charges for paybill payments follow Safaricom's standard send tariff, tiered from KES 0 (0 to 100) to a ceiling of KES 108 (250,000). Merchant-side fees are negotiated per paybill. Paybill remains the workhorse rail for government, utilities and any subscription-style biller because the account number lets the merchant reconcile automatically. Safaricom listed 3.13 million registered M-PESA merchants across till, paybill and Pochi rails at the end of FY26 (Source: Safaricom PLC Annual Report FY2026).
Worked example
To pay KPLC prepaid electricity, dial *334#, choose Lipa na M-PESA, Pay Bill, enter paybill 888880, enter your meter number as the account, enter the amount (say 1,000), enter PIN. KPLC returns the token by SMS within a minute.
Verified 2026-09-07. Definitions on paybillke are sourced from Safaricom PLC Annual Report FY2026, the Central Bank of Kenya, the Communications Authority of Kenya, the Kenya Revenue Authority, and the primary operator documentation for each product. How we verify. Report a change.