If there’s any sector that needs an intervention in Nigeria, it is the power sector. Electricity has been a major cause for concern for many years, especially when it comes to its availability and the billing system used to regulate it. Coupled with the outrageous bills, prepaid electricity metres which were introduced in 2006 as a solution to the problem are hard to come by for many Nigerians.
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Moreover, paying for prepaid metres can be a hurdle for customers who try to purchase energy units. Seeing how much customers are in need of a platform where they can pay their electricity bills without the occurrence of long queues and failed online attempts, two young professionals, Chidozie Akwiwu and Akiyenle Tobi founded Paynergy in 2018.
The pair had experienced firsthand the problems that come with purchasing energy units.
“We noticed that demand for prepaid recharge grew at a wide pace as more Nigerians got their metres. Sometimes, we still had to queue or wait for our tokens to be generated,”
Tobi said during an interview with Techpoint.
As a result, they began to harbour the idea of an online platform that would allow customers to pay their electricity bills seamlessly. They went on to do their research and gather data on the power sector. Through the research they carried out, they discovered that there was a significant number of people who would welcome the idea of a platform that could sort out all their energy needs. They founded Paynergy in 2018 to allow customers to have access to a bouquet of energy services and plans and pay for them with ease.
“… we included gas and diesel to our offerings and began testing. The market response was amazing and we officially launched,”
Tobi said.
“Energy payment platforms are here and there but we are different because we have put everything in one place, on one platform. Our competitors offer these values separately but with us, customers don’t need to split their time and resources,”
he said.
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How The Service Works
In addition to the innovative services Paynergy is offering to its customers, the platform enables users to plan their utility payments and helps them track their spending. Using their USSD, users can also recharge, monitor usage, and track payment history.
So far, Paynergy has been running on personal funds while in search of investors. The startup recorded a total of 200 customers per week within the last few months.
At the moment, Paynergy is open to collaborating with companies with similar offerings.
“We know that there are areas we haven’t even begun to explore and look into, solutions we haven’t started to create,”
Akwiwu says.
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