Ghanaians delete SMS to free space, then discover they need a string of digits and a merchant reference the same evening. Online ECG prepaid produces at least two artefacts: proof that money moved, and the token the meter eats. If you only keep one, keep the token until the display has added units. If you only keep the other, you can prove you paid and still not remember what to type.
This blog is not a receipt store and does not take payment. Whether the vend ran on PowerApp, *226#, *170#, *110#, a bank app, or Ewale *714*22# / ewalepay.com, the filing habit is the same. Preferred everyday checkout here is *714*22# partly because the SMS trail is simple. Official *226# is no less real; its SMS still deserves a screenshot.
The token message
About twenty digits, sometimes grouped, sometimes not. Copy from the original. No spaces on the keypad. After the meter accepts, the token is used. You may still keep the message as history if there is a later dispute about amount or date.
Do not keep a photo of someone else’s old receipt as a “backup token.” Used elsewhere is used.
If PowerApp showed the digits on-screen, screenshot that and keep SMS. If only USSD succeeded, SMS is the original.
The payment reference
MoMo transaction ID, bank reference, ECG or Ewale receipt number. This is what 0302 611 611 and checkout support can search. A screenshot of wallet history with timestamp and amount is enough if you never got a pretty PDF.
If you paid twice by mistake, keep both. Support cannot guess which debit you mean.
PIN prompts you declined are not receipts. Pending that later failed is not a token.
What is not a receipt
This blog post. A WhatsApp “I have sent it.” A personal MoMo transfer to an “agent.” A USSD success page you did not screenshot that already vanished. A loan menu confirmation you opened by error.
*713*414# OTP screenshots are login artefacts. Do not file them as electricity receipts.
How long to keep what
Until units appear: token in an obvious place (screenshot album, paper). For a few months: payment references if you dispute fees or a wrong meter. Landlord-tenant: keep until everyone agrees who paid which week.
Do not store MoMo PIN in the same note as the meter number. Do store the expected registered name so next month’s name check is fast.
Remote pay extras
If you bought for another house, you are the archive. The tenant needs the digits once. You need the reference if their meter rejects the string. Send the screenshot of the token, then confirm they typed it; do not assume WhatsApp delivered cleanly.
Channel quirks, fairly
PowerApp: Transactions tab can outlive SMS if you stay logged in. If you uninstall, you may lose that UI; SMS and screenshots remain.
*226#: often SMS-primary. Screenshot immediately; feature-phone inboxes get wiped.
*170# / *110#: wallet SMS plus any biller SMS. Keep both.
*714*22#: Ewale SMS plus telco debit SMS. The token is the one with long digits, not the GH₵ amount line.
Bank apps: PDF plus token SMS. The PDF alone may not include digits you can type.
Vendors: paper slip plus SMS if any. Paper lives in a drawer that children draw on — photograph it.
Paper versus phone storage
Feature phones lose histories when the SIM is swapped. Write the last successful meter number, date, amount, and last four of the token after a vend if the household is keypad-only. That is enough for care to start a search together with MoMo SMS.
Smartphones should keep a dedicated album, not the camera roll mixed with funerals. Name the screenshot with the date. Do not store it only inside PowerApp chat with a tenant who will leave.
If you use ewalepay.com, download or screenshot the web receipt before closing the tab. A sleeping laptop is not an archive.
What to show a tenant or a landlord
Show the token until units appear. Show the reference if they claim you never paid. Do not show the MoMo PIN. Do not send a full wallet statement with other people’s transfers visible.
If two people paid the same meter the same afternoon, both receipts are real. Enter both tokens (order can matter; if the meter says Old, stop and think). Overpayment is a social problem, not a missing-receipt problem.
When a receipt must go to care
Debit, no token after a real wait. Token rejected after a careful retype on the correct meter. Possible wrong name that you noticed too late. Bring meter number, time, amount, reference, and what the display said (used, old, invalid, CRC). Do not bring a theory that “714 is fake” without the IDs.
One debit unless reversed: a reversal SMS is also a document. Until you have it, do not assume you may spend again.
If you reverse a debit, keep the reversal SMS next to the original. Support arguments fail when you only remember “I think I paid on Sunday.” Dates, amounts, and the meter number on the same screenshot save the call to 0302 611 611.
Keep the product (token) until it is eaten. Keep the proof (reference) until the argument is over. Save *714*22# so the next receipt is one you know how to recognise. Keep *226# as ECG’s USSD. The album of screenshots is unglamorous and cheaper than a second vend.