No smartphone, no data, and your light is about to go off — none of that matters if you have a working line and a bank or wallet account, because USSD runs entirely over the basic voice network. This guide sticks strictly to dial codes that work on any phone, basic or smart, so you can recharge your meter without ever needing an app or an internet connection, no matter what device you happen to be holding at the moment your units run out.
Quick Answer
Dial your bank or mobile money wallet's USSD code (such as *737# for GTBank, *966# for Zenith, or *955# for OPay), navigate to the bill payment or electricity option, enter your meter number and the amount, then confirm with your PIN. You'll receive your 20-digit token by SMS, usually within a minute. This works on any phone with active airtime and a registered line — no smartphone, app, or data connection required.
Why USSD Works on Any Phone
USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) is the same technology behind those *123# style codes you've used your whole life — it runs as a live session over your phone's voice network, the same channel used for calls, not data. That means it works identically on a ten-year-old keypad phone and the latest smartphone, doesn't touch your data bundle, and keeps working even during a total internet outage in your area, as long as your network has signal. This is exactly why USSD has remained the backbone of bill payment in Nigeria even as banking apps have become more common — it simply doesn't care what device you're holding or whether your data plan has run out.
What You Need Before You Dial
- A phone number registered to your bank account or mobile money wallet (OPay, PalmPay, Moniepoint), since USSD banking only works from the exact line tied to your account.
- A USSD PIN already set up — if this is your first time, see the activation steps further down.
- Sufficient balance in your account or wallet to cover the amount you want to buy, plus a small allowance for any session fee your provider charges on bill payments.
- Your meter number, ideally written down beforehand so you're not searching for it mid-session.
The Full List of Bank and Wallet USSD Codes for Electricity
| Bank or Wallet | USSD Code | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| GTBank | *737# | Dial 73750AmountMeterNumber# directly, or dial 73750# and follow the prompts to select your DISCO |
| Zenith Bank | *966# | Select Pay Bills, then Electricity, then enter your meter number and amount |
| Access Bank | 9013# | Follow the prompts to select your DISCO and enter your meter number |
| UBA | 9195# | Follow the prompts for utility bills; a small session fee (roughly ₦100 plus VAT) typically applies |
| First Bank | *894# | Select Pay Bills, then Electricity, then enter your meter number and amount |
| Fidelity Bank | *770# | Select Pay Bills, then Electricity |
| Wema Bank | *945# | Select the bills payment option, then Electricity, and follow the prompts |
| Ecobank | *326# | Follow the prompts under bill payments |
| OPay | *955# | Select Pay Bills (or use the direct bill-payment shortcut under the menu) |
| Moniepoint | *5573# | Select the bill payment option, then Electricity |
| PalmPay | *861# | Follow the prompts under bill payments |
| Kuda | No dedicated USSD code of its own | Fund your Kuda account using another bank's USSD transfer code, then pay your bill through the Kuda app once you have data, or use one of the other wallets above for a fully USSD-only flow |
Step-by-Step — A Generic Walkthrough That Works for Almost Every Bank or Wallet
The exact menu wording differs slightly between providers, but the flow is nearly identical everywhere:
- Dial your bank or wallet's USSD code from your registered phone.
- Select "Pay Bills," "Bills & Payments," or similar from the menu.
- Choose "Electricity," then select your DISCO from the list shown.
- Enter your meter number carefully and confirm it's correct — this is the single biggest cause of failed or misdirected purchases.
- Enter the amount you want to buy.
- Confirm with your 4 or 5-digit USSD PIN (the exact PIN length varies by provider).
- Wait for an SMS containing your 20-digit token, typically within a minute.
Setting Up Your USSD PIN for the First Time
If you've never used USSD banking on this line before, you'll need to activate it before any of the codes above will work:
- Dial your bank or wallet's main USSD code from the phone number linked to your account.
- Select the registration or "Quick Banking" option from the menu.
- Enter your account number, or in some cases the last six digits of your debit card or your date of birth, depending on what the provider asks for.
- Create a PIN when prompted, then confirm it by entering it a second time.
- You'll receive a confirmation, after which the same code is ready to use for transfers, airtime, and bill payments going forward.
If You Don't Have Any Bank Account or Wallet at All
You don't need your own account to get your meter recharged — you just need access to someone who has one, since the token generated is tied to the meter number you enter, not to the identity of whoever paid. Ask a trusted family member, neighbor, or shop owner with an active USSD-enabled account to run the transaction on their phone using your meter number, and pay them back in cash for the amount. A few precautions worth taking: confirm the token actually arrives and works in your meter before handing over the cash, and only do this with someone you genuinely trust, since you're sharing your meter number (which is not sensitive on its own) but relying entirely on their honesty to actually complete the purchase rather than pocket your money.
If this becomes a recurring arrangement rather than a one-off, it's worth eventually opening even a basic mobile money wallet account in your own name. OPay, PalmPay, and Moniepoint accounts can typically be opened in minutes with just a phone number and a valid ID, no minimum balance, and no need to visit a physical branch — which removes the dependency on borrowing someone else's account every time your units run low.
Checking Your Balance and Confirming the Token Landed (Also via USSD)
Most banks let you confirm a transaction went through without needing to dig through SMS. Dial your bank's main code and look for a "Transaction History" or "Mini Statement" option in the menu — this will show your most recent debits, including the bill payment you just made, even if the confirmation SMS itself is delayed for any reason. This is particularly useful on a basic phone where SMS storage is limited and old messages get overwritten quickly.
Why USSD Is Still Worth Knowing Even If You Own a Smartphone
If you've got a smartphone and data, you'll probably default to an app most of the time, and that's fine. But it's worth keeping the USSD codes for your bank somewhere easy to find anyway, because the situations where USSD becomes essential tend to arrive without warning: your phone's storage fills up and the app won't open, a software update breaks something, your data bundle finishes at the worst possible moment, or you're in an area with a weak data signal but enough voice signal to complete a USSD session. None of those situations are rare in Nigeria, and a smartphone with no working app is functionally a basic phone until you fix the underlying problem — except USSD doesn't care which kind of phone you're holding.
Finding Your Bank's Code If It's Not Listed Here
If your bank or wallet isn't in the table above, your USSD code is usually printed on the back of your debit card, listed on your bank's official website under "USSD Banking" or "Digital Banking," or available by calling your bank's customer care line and simply asking. Avoid searching for it casually online and dialing the first code you find from an unfamiliar source, since fake USSD-style prompts have been used in phishing attempts — your bank's own website or your debit card is the safest place to confirm the correct code.
USSD-Specific Troubleshooting
Most USSD problems trace back to one of five causes, and almost none of them mean your money is gone:
"Request Failed" or the session disconnects partway through This is almost always a network congestion issue rather than anything wrong with your transaction. Move to an area with stronger signal if possible, wait a minute or two, and redial from the start rather than trying to continue a dropped session.
The session times out because you took too long between steps USSD sessions have a short window (often under a minute) between each prompt. If you're searching for your meter number or counting cash while a session is open, it will likely time out. Have your meter number and amount decided before you dial, then move through the prompts without pausing.
Your PIN gets locked after a few wrong attempts This is a security feature, not a glitch. You'll need to contact your bank or wallet's customer care to reset it — there's no USSD shortcut around a locked PIN, since that would defeat the purpose of locking it in the first place.
"Service Temporarily Unavailable" message This usually points to a temporary issue on your bank's USSD platform rather than your network or account. Try again after 10 to 15 minutes, and if it persists for hours, that's worth a call to your bank's customer care rather than repeated retries.
You're being charged a small fee you didn't expect Several banks and wallets apply a flat session fee (UBA's bill payment menu, for instance, typically carries a fee around ₦100 plus VAT) separate from the cost of your electricity units. This isn't a sign of fraud — check your specific bank's published USSD fee schedule if the amount deducted seems higher than expected.
Tips for Helping an Elderly Relative or a First-Time User
Write the exact code and the steps down on paper in the order they'll be prompted, rather than expecting them to remember a sequence of menu numbers under pressure. Dial slowly and let each prompt fully load before pressing the next number, since a phone with a slower screen response can make someone think a button press didn't register when it actually did, leading to double-entries. And if it's genuinely their first time, consider doing the PIN setup step together once, calmly, rather than mid-emergency when the lights have already gone off and patience is already thin.
It also helps to physically write the meter number on a small card or sticker kept near the phone or the meter itself, especially for an older relative who may not be comfortable hunting through old receipts or scrolling SMS history under pressure. A five-minute setup session done once, when there's no emergency and no darkness to rush through, saves a much harder ten-minute phone call talking someone through it later when the power has already gone and tempers are shorter than usual.
Bookmark this page — we update it whenever a bank or wallet changes its USSD menu structure. Having trouble with a specific code? Drop your bank or wallet name and exactly where the process stalls in the comments and we'll help you figure out the next step. Mentioning which DISCO you're with and what message appeared on screen makes it much easier for us (or another reader who's hit the same snag) to point you to the right fix quickly.
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