Nigerian firm Vendr.ng offers tech fix for common power dispute, shared electricity meters

Nigerian firm Vendr.ng offers tech fix for a common power dispute, shared electricity meters

As Nigerian households grapple with unreliable and disputed electricity billing, one company is betting that software — not new hardware — can solve a problem that has strained relationships between neighbours and landlords for years.

LAGOS, Nigeria — For years, Amao Sunday shared an electricity meter with several other households in Agege, a densely populated suburb of Lagos. Like millions of Nigerians living in shared or multi-tenant housing, he had no way of knowing how much power he personally used — only what the collective bill said each month, and how much of it his neighbours insisted was not theirs to pay.

“There was always a disagreement over who used more electricity,” Sunday said. “That is why I decided to get my own smart meter.”

His experience reflects a broader frustration in a country where electricity access remains inconsistent, and where shared metering — common in Nigeria’s dense urban housing — often turns neighbours and tenants against one another over bills no one can verify.

Vendr.ng, a Nigerian cloud vending platform, is leading the way inattempting to address the problem — not by selling new hardware, but by offering software that works with smart meters residents already own.

A workaround, not a replacement

Under a new campaign titled “Already bought a smart meter? We’ll still help you run it,” Vendr.ng says customers with Wi-Fi-enabled prepaid meters — for electricity, gas, or water — can link their existing devices to its platform, allowing them to monitor and recharge usage remotely, without buying proprietary equipment.

It is a notable pitch in a market where the upfront cost of smart meters has long been cited as a barrier to adoption, even as Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies push metering as a solution to estimated billing — a practice that has fuelled public anger for years.

“My role is to ensure that the entire installation process is smooth, from the initial customer engagement to full deployment,” said Abraham Abayomi-Daniels, a project specialist at Vendr.ng. “Communication is key to a successful project.”

Landlords bear the cost of turnover

The disputes extend beyond neighbours sharing a meter. For landlords, the challenge has been tenants who bypass the main meter altogether, leaving him to absorb bills long after they have moved out.

“Each time a tenant left owing, I was the one negotiating with the utility company over a bill I didn’t rack up,” Mr Obi said. “Disconnections and reconnections came with their own fees, and it kept eating into my revenue.”

He said switching to a sub-metering system — where each unit is billed individually — ended the disputes almost immediately. “I kept waiting to sort it out, but waiting only cost me more,” he said.

Part of a wider shift

Analysts say the appeal of software-based solutions like Vendr.ng’s lies in their low barrier to entry, at a time when many Nigerian households are cautious about additional spending on utilities already burdened by inflation and currency devaluation.

Whether such platforms can meaningfully reduce disputes at scale — particularly in Nigeria’s vast informal housing sector — remains to be seen. But for residents like Sunday and landlords alike, the shift away from shared, unmonitored billing has already changed how they experience a basic utility many take for granted.