How to Recharge Prepaid Meter: Token Steps and What ₦5,000 Buys

The most common mistake is believing every meter brand needs its own steps, and that ₦5,000 always buys the same number of units. Anyone asking how to recharge prepaid meter keypads on a Hexing, Conlog, Mojec or Holley gets one answer: type the 20-digit token, press Enter and wait for Accept. Your band decides the units. The brand doesn't.

On Band A outside Lagos, ₦5,000 gives you about 22.2 kWh once VAT comes off.

How to recharge prepaid meter keypads: one set of steps for every brand

People say "Mojec loads one way, Hexing another" all the time. Usually they're standing in front of the meter with the receipt in one hand, half-convinced there's a secret button nobody told them about. There isn't.

All four brands follow STS, the Standard Transfer Specification. Think of it as one shared token format that any compliant meter can read, whichever factory the box on your wall came from and whatever logo is printed on its front. Same steps everywhere:

1. Check that the meter number on your receipt matches the number printed on your meter.
2. Type all 20 digits of the token (your recharge code) on the keypad.
3. Press Enter. On some models that key shows # or an arrow instead.
4. Wait for the screen to say Accept or Success, then check that your balance has gone up.

If you hit a wrong digit, clear the screen and start again from the first one. Patching a long code halfway through is the quickest way to load the wrong thing.

When the meter keeps refusing

Slow down. Retype every digit, reading straight off the receipt and not from memory. Next, hold the receipt beside the meter and compare the two meter numbers digit by digit, because a token made for a slightly different number will never load on yours, however carefully you type it. If both checks pass and it still says no, call your DisCo with the receipt, the token and the date you bought it.

Split meters: you type indoors, not on the pole

Some meters sit up on the pole, with a small keypad unit (the UIU) inside the house. You type the token on that indoor unit and it passes the credit up to the meter. No link showing? Call your DisCo before you enter a new token.

Balance codes are where brands do differ. Short codes for checking your balance or your last token change from model to model, even within one brand. A list made for somebody else's meter can leave you pressing the wrong keys for ten minutes while the people inside ask whether light has come. Use the code card or sticker that came with your meter.

"₦5,000 should buy the same units wherever I live"

It doesn't. Your band sets the price of each kWh.

Band A customers pay ₦209.50 per kWh, a rate NERC kept frozen in the supplementary orders that took effect in September 2026. Bands B to E stay at their December 2022 rates. Those rates differ from one DisCo to the next, so the table below leaves them out, since a single national figure would be wrong for most readers outside one company's area. Every one of those bands costs less per kWh than Band A, which means the same top-up buys more units there than it would on a Band A feeder.

Lagos is its own case. If you're an Ikeja Electric or Eko customer living in Lagos, your tariff now comes from the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission rather than from NERC, so the table below is the picture outside Lagos.

Band A units outside Lagos for common top-ups, prices as at 3 November 2026:

You pay	kWh before VAT	kWh after 7.5% VAT
₦2,000	9.5	8.9
₦5,000	23.9	22.2
₦10,000	47.7	44.4

That gap between the columns is VAT. To run your own numbers, first check which band your feeder is on, then look up what each electricity band costs per kWh and do the same sum.

"A token works on any meter, and I can load it whenever"

Both halves are wrong.

A token is locked to one meter. When you buy, the vending system encrypts it with that meter's own key, so it won't load on your neighbour's meter and it fails on a meter number with even one digit off. Each token also works once. Your meter keeps a record of every token it has already taken, so typing the same one in twice, even on the day you bought it, gets you nothing at all.

Timing matters as well. When a DisCo changes the key inside your meter, older unused tokens stop working. Enugu Electricity handled its own upgrade with a blunt rule: load stored tokens first, because they wouldn't load afterwards and wouldn't be refunded.

A key change arrives as two extra codes called Key Change Tokens. Kaduna Electric sends them with your token. Load everything in this order:

1. Any old token you bought but never used.
2. The first Key Change Token (KCT1).
3. The second Key Change Token (KCT2).
4. Your new energy token.

Still refusing after that? Here's what to do when a token is rejected.

"Fewer units than I paid for means the vendor cheated me"

Usually VAT took the missing part. Not the vendor.

Vendors don't set your units; your DisCo's tariff does, and VAT comes off your payment before anyone works out what reaches the meter. Find three lines on your receipt: the amount, the VAT and the units. Take the VAT away from the amount. Divide what's left by your rate per kWh. You should land on the receipt's figure, give or take a decimal place, and if you do, nobody short-changed you.

Cashback sits outside all of that. We pay it back to you after the purchase goes through, and it never touches the token, so the units your meter receives are exactly what they'd be without it. Here's the AidaPay cashback on a ₦5,000 token, on the same date:

DisCo	Cashback rate	Back on ₦5,000
IBEDC	0.15%	₦7.50
Eko	0.15%	₦7.50
IKEDC	0.2%	₦10
AEDC	0.2%	₦10
PHED	0.3%	₦15
Enugu Electricity	0.5%	₦25

Next time the units look small, do the sum before you start a quarrel.

Frequently asked questions

Published 3 November 2026. Prices and codes change - if you spot one that has moved, tell us and we will fix it.