Ikeja Electric Unveils USSD Solution Channel to Ease Payments (How it works)

By
Brand Spur
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Ikeja Electric has announced that consumers of its services can now pay their bills or vend energy through Unstructured Supplement Service Code, USSD.

“For the sake of clarity, USSD is a protocol used by GSM based mobile phones to communicate with the network operator’s computer. It is widely used for a variety of purposes, such as prepaid call-back service, location-based content service, WAP browsing and so on. Additionally, it is also used as a part of configuring the user’s handheld on the network.

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“Unlike the SMS, the USSD establishes a connection in real-time between the parties involved, thereby enabling a two-way communication of information as long as the connection remains open”, it stated.

The solution offers you the greatest convenience as you can, in the comfort of your homes and offices, pay bills or vend energy tokens irrespective of the type of phones you use.

Participating Banks: Diamond, Ecobank, Fidelity, Skye, Stanbic, Sterling, Union, Unity, Wema, Zenith

HOW IT WORKS

2 Major things to consider before attempting transactions on the service
  • Ensure and confirm that BVN is tied to the phone number being used (if unsure, dial *565*0#); if BVN is displayed, go ahead with transactions. If otherwise, the payer will be required to engage his/her Bank to update the BVN record with the phone number.
  • Confirm that the same number is tied to the customer’s account at the bank (the customer can know this by confirming if the same number is used to receive SMS alerts from the bank). If otherwise, the payer will be required to engage his/her Bank to update Bank record with the phone number.
First Time UsersReturning Users
  • Dial *565*6*0013*Meter/Account number*Amount#
  • Select Prepaid or Postpaid option
  • Select Bank from list (if multiple banks)
  • Select Account (if multiple accounts)
  • Input DoB in the form – ddmmyyyy OR Last 4 digits of debit (“ATM”) card as requested (depends on chosen Bank)
  • Create Passcode
  • Transaction is processed & feedback on status is provided to the payer
  • SMS transaction notification is received

OR

  • Dial *565*6#
  • Select Electricity
  • Select IKEDC
  • Select Prepaid or Postpaid option
  • Input Meter/Account Number
  • Select Bank from list (if multiple banks)
  • Select Account (if multiple accounts)
  • Input DoB in the form – ddmmyyyy OR Last 4 digits of debit (“ATM”) card as requested (depends on chosen Bank)
  • Create Passcode
  • Transaction is processed & feedback on status is provided to the payer
  • SMS transaction notification is received
  • Dial *565*6*0013*Meter/Account number*Amount#
  • Select Prepaid or Postpaid option
  • Select Bank from list (if multiple banks)
  • Select Account (if multiple accounts)
  • Input passcode
  • Transaction is processed & feedback on status is provided to the payer
  • SMS transaction notification is received

OR

  • Dial *565*6#
  • Select Electricity
  • Select IKEDC
  • Select Prepaid or Postpaid option
  • Input Meter/Account Number
  • Select Bank from list (if multiple banks)
  • Select Account (if multiple accounts)
  • Input Passcode
  • Transaction is processed & feedback on status is provided to the payer
  • SMS transaction notification is received

Smartcard customers are exempted from using USSD and online options to vend energy. They must visit an authorized Ikeja Electric POS agent close to them to vend.