Buy electricity for your home,
with just your meter number
RanaWallet helps families in rural Nigeria pay for the electricity they get from their local mini-grid. You type in your meter number, choose how much power to buy, and the token is sent to you straight away. You can do it from any phone, including a small phone without internet.
Many rural communities now have power. Paying for it is still too hard.
Across rural Nigeria, small solar power stations called mini-grids are bringing electricity to communities the national grid never reached. But the ways to pay for that power were designed for people in cities. We built RanaWallet for the people the city tools left out.
The problem for families
In many rural communities, buying electricity means walking to a vendor who may not be there, or handing cash to someone with no receipt. Phone signal comes and goes. Many people do not have a bank card or a smartphone. When buying power is this hard, homes sit in the dark even while the solar plant nearby is producing electricity.
The problem for the power company
The companies that build and run mini-grids produce electricity they often cannot collect payment for. Cash changes hands without records. They cannot easily see how much each site has earned. Every naira they lose makes it harder to keep the lights on and harder to build the next mini-grid in another rural community.
RanaWallet solves both problems at once. Families get a simple way to buy power from any phone. Power companies get a clear record of every payment, so they know exactly what each site has earned.
Made for the way people in rural communities really live
Before we build anything, we ask one question: will this work for someone with a small phone, weak signal, and who may not read English? If the answer is no, we do not ship it.
Only your meter number
You do not need to know the name of your power company, your site, or your tariff. Type the number written on your meter. RanaWallet finds the right power company for you and checks the meter is real before you pay anything.
Works on any phone
You can buy power by dialling a short code on your phone (USSD) or by sending a text message (SMS). Neither needs internet or a smartphone. If you do have a smartphone, you can also use the app or the website.
Buy power for someone else
Type in the meter number of your mother, your neighbour or your shop, and pay from your own wallet. This means a person without a bank account can still get electricity, by giving cash to a family member or friend who has RanaWallet.
Keeps working when the signal goes
If you lose signal in the middle of buying power in the app, your purchase is saved on your phone. It is sent automatically as soon as the signal comes back. If the internet stays down, the app can send it as a secure text message instead. You are never charged twice for the same purchase.
In Hausa and English
You can use the app in Hausa or in English, and change between them whenever you like. Your money and your history stay exactly the same.
Your money is always safe
If buying power fails, your money goes back into your wallet. Sometimes the result is not clear straight away, for example when the network drops. In that case we do not guess. We hold the payment and check with the power company first. You will never lose money for power you did not get.
Your token comes to you
Your token is the number you type into your meter to load the electricity. It is shown in the app and also sent to you by text message, so it reaches you even on a small phone. If you lose the message, you can ask for it to be sent again.
One wallet, four ways to use it
It is the same account, the same money and the same history, whichever way you choose. Use whatever works for your phone.
From your wallet to your meter in four steps
The steps are the same whether you use a short code, a text message, the app or the website.
Open your wallet
Create your free RanaWallet account. There is no monthly fee and no fee to join.
Put money in
Add money by bank transfer or with a bank card. It stays in your wallet until you need it.
Type the meter number
Your own meter or someone else's. We check the meter and show you the full price before you say yes.
Get your token
Your token arrives in the app and by text message. Type it into your meter and the power comes on.
Get paid for every unit of power you produce
If your company builds or runs mini-grids (these companies are often called RESCOs, Renewable Energy Service Companies), RanaWallet connects to the system that manages your meters and gives your customers an easier way to pay. Your meters, your prices and your customers stay yours.
Your records are kept separate
Each power company has its own private, walled-off section of RanaWallet, with its own records, its own staff logins and its own connection to its meters. No other company can see your customers or your money.
Books that always balance
Every payment is written down twice, once where the money came from and once where it went, so the totals must always match. Records cannot be changed after they are written. You can trace every naira from the customer's wallet to what is owed to you.
Manage it all from a browser
See how much each site has earned, look up a customer to help them, add staff, list your sites, and handle refunds and settlement records, all from one website at app.ranawallet.com.
What these words mean
A few words on this website may be new to you. Here is what they mean.
One small, simple charge. Each time you buy power, we add a service charge of 2%, and never more than ₦100, plus 7.5% VAT on that charge. All of the money you choose for electricity goes to your meter. For example, ₦5,000 of electricity costs ₦5,107.50 in total. The app is free, and there is no monthly fee. You always see the full price before you agree.
See more examples →