Cydene Energy launches mobile app to help Nigerians track utilities use

With the rising cost of living and the soaring cost of cooking gas, Cydene Energy has launched a tech app that will enhance the adoption of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) across households in Nigeria via its Cydene Express mobile app.

The app which also features payment of household utility bills including electricity bills, cable subscription, data, and airtime, among others delivered at consumers’ doorsteps is artificial intelligence (AI) configured.

“Today, we are excited because we have built a socially inclusive energy payment app. The idea behind Cydene Express started in 2016 where we invested and pushed for the adoption of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in Nigeria. At the time, we invested heavily in tricycles and that was to help move gas from retail outlets to homes,” the company said.

“However, in less than a year we noticed a challenge. In owning tricycles, we understood that we needed to own the management systems and not just the actual assets to understand the logistics of delivering services from merchants to the consumers,” Skalid Obi, Chief Executive Officer, Cydene Energy Services, said.

Obi, who studied Software Engineering at the University of Utah in the U.S., said he developed the App, following an industry experience he gained while working as an intern in Exxon Mobil and at the Strategy Department in Techno Oil Ltd. in Lagos.

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“The experience helped me immensely in understanding the Nigerian business environment and how to provide engineering solutions to some teething problems,’’ he stated.

The company says with the introduction of this app, the Federal Government’s effort to boost LPG adoption as cooking fuel via the National LPG Expansion Plan (NLEIP) will receive a boost.

Roosevelt Ogbonna, Group Managing Director of Access Bank Plc explained that globally, disruptions have become the order of the day and technology is at the heart of that disruption.

“The traditional method of doing business will soon go into extinction because young people are excited about technology and what it can do. What this app will do is it will provide convenience for retailers including you and I, from the comfort of our homes. It takes one person to think about a market, force change and cause others to follow suit.”

While speaking on the features of the app, Sam Ochonma, Director at Cydene explained how the financial trajectory of users can change, stating that users can gift money via the application to friends and families, as well as request for payments from friends and family members who also use the application for any utility they wish to pay for.

Nkechi Obi, Executive Vice-Chairman of Techno Oil praised Obi for his tenacity and commitment to bridging the gap in delivering utility services to households.