Case Study: How Pay4Power Helps Merchants Earn More—and Keep Customers’ Lights On

Snapshot

• Merchant: “Kemi’s Everyday Store”
• Location: Suburban Lagos, Nigeria
• Category: In-store & social commerce mini-mart
• Use Case: Utility bill payments & prepaid electricity token sales
• Why it matters: Reliable, fast bill payments are now essential commerce—especially where power is prepaid and queues are costly.

The Real-World Pain Points (Before Pay4Power)

1. Multiple apps, one confused customer

Scene: A shopper wants to top up electricity, pay for Jamb while renewing their TV subscription but has to use three different apps or USSD codes because the vendor, the local DisCo, and the household use different channels.

Impact: Time wasted, high churn rates and abandoned purchases, customer frustration.

How Pay4Power helps: One checkout, multiple billers—no app-hopping for the customer or vendor.

2. Network failure, failed transaction, endless calls

Scene: A payment appears to go through but the token never gets a confirmation because of a network glitch. The customer and merchant has a 30–60 minutes back and forth on calls and WhatsApp trying to resolve it.

Impact: Refund headaches, lost trust, manual reconciliation.

How Pay4Power helps: Reliable provider integrations, clear failure-handling flows, 24/7 customer support, and automated reversal/notifications.

3. Cash float headaches and security risk

Scene: The merchant ends the day with large amounts of cash to reconcile and little to no confidence in exact balances because manual records take time and are messy.

Impact: Theft risk, accounting errors, time lost on reconciliation.

How Pay4Power helps: Digital receipts, automatic reconciliation and daily settlements reduce cash handling and risk.

4. No-show commissions and late payouts

Scene: A merchant is promised a “great commission,” but the breakdown arrives late and the payout cycles are slow and opaque.

Impact: Low merchant trust and reluctance to promote bill-payment services.

How Pay4Power helps: Clear commission reports directly on your dashboard, reliable settlement cycles you can count on, dedicated field team leads for quick support, and 24/7 customer service whenever you need it.

5. No proof of payment or unclear receipts

Scene: A customer claims they paid for a token; the merchant’s handwritten slip is illegible and the DisCo shows no record.

Impact: Unresolved disputes, lost customers, damaged reputation.

How Pay4Power helps: Every transaction comes with instant SMS, WhatsApp, or printed receipts—each carrying a unique ID linked to both merchant and customer records for easy tracking and trust.

6. High fees or unclear pricing for low-value transactions

Scene: Someone topping up a small amount is charged a fee that eats a large percentage of the amount—making digital payments unattractive for small purchases.

Impact: Customers revert to cash or informal channels; merchants lose commissionable volume.

How Pay4Power helps: Competitive, transparent fees that make small-value digital payments viable for both sides.

7. Reconciliation nightmares for multiple staff and shifts

Scene: Two staff members serve on different shifts; at day’s end the owner can’t easily reconcile who sold what or verify cash vs digital sales.

Impact: Confusion, incorrect payouts, strained staff relationships.

How Pay4Power helps: Role-based logins, shift reports and a single dashboard that attributes transactions to users.

8. Limited offline options for low-tech customers

Scene: A rural-based customer has no smartphone and limited literacy; USSD flows are confusing or unavailable.

Impact: Exclusion of low-tech or low-literacy customers and dependence on cash and informal channels.

How Pay4Power helps: Multi-channel access (USSD, agent, merchant, SMS) and simplified scripts for merchant-assisted transactions.

9. Long customer queues

Scene: It’s the rush hour, a mother pauses on her work to join a long queue at a local agent for a token top-up; by the time she’s served, everything else is closing.

Impact: Lost sales for the merchant, repeat trips for the customer.

How Pay4Power helps: Instant token issuance and in-store vending—customers pay and leave with confirmation.

The human cost (why this matters)

These frictions add up result in time lost, money wasted, and trust eroded. For merchants, every abandoned sale is revenue that never materialises. For customers, repeated friction means reverting to cash, informal channels, or risky alternatives.

Fixing the technical aspects (instant tokens, reconciliation, receipts) and the commercial pipeline (fair fees, transparent commissions, easy onboarding) transforms a marginal service into a dependable revenue stream and improves daily life for customers.

These aren’t isolated issues. In Nigeria, digital payments and agent-led services are exploding, and utility payments are the leading reason for most digital transactions:

• Digital financial services usage keeps rising: In 2023, 83% of adults with a transactional account used digital financial services (up from 60% in 2020). 75% made digital payments for goods; 31% received income digitally. efina.org.ng
• e-Bills (including utilities) are significant and growing: NIBSS reported ₦2.63 trillion in e-bills paid Jan–Nov 2022; despite month-to-month volatility, the utility e-payments base remains large. Mobile Money AfricaPunch Newspapers
• PoS rails at scale: By 2024–2025, registered PoS terminals topped 7.8–8.36 million, with ~5.9 million active/deployed—evidence that customers expect to pay anywhere. NairametricsTechCabal
• Prepaid power remains essential: As of Dec 2024, only ~46.6% of registered electricity customers were metered, leaving millions still navigating estimated billing—and strong demand for easy token top-ups. The Guardian Nigeria

Why Kemi Chose Pay4Power

For Kemi, the choice wasn’t just about adding another service to her store—it was about getting her customers to come back again and again. She needed a solution that was simple to use, reliable in performance, and transparent for her business. Pay4Power delivered on all three. How?

• Trust Built In = Customer loyalty
  Kemi no longer has to think about disputes over receipts or missing commissions. Every transaction is backed by a digital record, visible to both her and her customers, which has strengthened trust in her store.
• Revenue That Grows With Her Business
  What used to be “extra” income from utility bill payments has turned into a steady revenue stream. With predictable commissions and faster settlements, she can now reinvest earnings back into her mini-mart.
• Time Saved, Customers Retained
  Queues are shorter, complaints fewer. Her staff no longer spend hours balancing books at closing time. Instead, customers leave with their tokens in seconds—and keep coming back.
• A Competitive Edge
  In a crowded Lagos market where multiple shops sell the same goods, Pay4Power has given Kemi a differentiator: her store isn’t just a mini-mart, it’s a one-stop service hub where people can buy essentials and pay all their bills.

Outcome: What Kemi Sees Now

• More foot traffic retained: Customers pay bills and shop under the same roof—no more “I’ll come back later.”
• New revenue stream: Commissions from tokens and bills add up through the day.
• Happier regulars: Receipts + instant tokens reduce disputes and repeat clients.
• Less admin cost at close: Dashboard reconciliation trims end-of-day paperwork.

(We avoid disclosing individual merchant financials publicly; results vary by location, hours, and product mix.)

Features That Made the Difference

• Prepaid electricity token vending (multi-DisCo coverage) with instant PIN delivery.
• Multi-bill hub (electricity, TV, data, Jamb, more) to keep customers in-store.
• Real-time receipts (print or SMS/WhatsApp) and automatic reconciliation in a merchant dashboard.
• Short-term payouts (based on settlement window) to keep cash flow predictable.
• Role-based access so staff can sell, owners can track.
• Issues desk for quick resolution when a DisCo or biller is slow to confirm.

Onboarding in 3 Simple Steps

1. Sign up & KYC (mobile or web).
2. Connect payout account and enable preferred billers.
3. Start selling tokens and utility payments at the counter and via WhatsApp orders.

Merchant Playbook: How to Earn with Pay4Power

• Bundle the ask: “Topping up light today?” or “ Paying for your DSTV?” at checkout.
• Promote convenience: “Pay your NEPA/utility bills here.”
• Offer receipts: Print or send via WhatsApp/SMS to build trust.
• Peak-time readiness: Evening and month-end shifts see token spikes—staff accordingly.
• Track what sells: Use the dashboard to see top billers/times and tune your inventory and hours.

The Bigger Context: Why Utility Payments Matter for Merchants

• Electricity reliability remains a constraint for households and SMEs. World Bank Enterprise Survey indicators show a high share of Nigerian firms experience electrical outages, underscoring frequent top-ups and the need for predictable energy spend. World Bank Open DataWorld Bank
• Prepaid metering is still scaling. With ~46.6% metered and millions yet to be covered, convenient token vending remains a daily demand driver. The Guardian Nigeria
• Consumers prefer digital and agent channels. The continued surge in PoS deployments and DFS usage means customers expect to pay bills in-store, on-phone, and without friction. TechCabalefina.org.ng

Ready to Get Started?

• Become a Pay4Power Merchant: Quick onboarding, transparent commissions, and tools built for everyday sellers.
• Already using PoS? You’re 80% there—just add Pay4Power billers and start earning on utility payments.

Sources

• EFInA Access to Financial Services (A2F) 2023 – DFS usage, digital payments uptick. efina.org.ngA2F
• NIBSS – e-bills growth and electronic payments scale; PoS footprint. Nibss PlcMobile Money AfricaNairametrics
• TechCabal analysis of PoS adoption (2025). TechCabal
• NERC – metering status and quarterly sector reports. The Guardian Nigerianerc.gov.ng+1
• World Bank / Enterprise Surveys – firms experiencing outages (Nigeria). World Bank Open DataWorld Bank