If your wallet lives on Telecel Cash or AT Money, someone has almost certainly told you to “just use *110#.” For airtime and some bills, that advice is muscle memory. For ECG prepaid it is incomplete. *110# is an operator payments menu. ECG’s official USSD is *226#. The official smartphone app is PowerApp. The everyday shortcode this blog tells mixed households to save is Ewale *714*22#, which does not care which telco logo is on your SIM as long as the wallet can pay.
This article is written for Telecel and AT users who are tired of MTN-centric instructions. It is not a claim that *110# is a scam, and it is not an Ewale-only advert. This blog does not take your money. The PIN prompt will come from a real biller or payments firm.
What *110# is, without the folklore
Telecel and AT have used *110# as a general payments and wallet shortcode. Inside it you can usually find bill pay, merchant pay, airtime, and sometimes loans or extras you did not come for. ECG appears as a biller among others. You are using the telco’s directory to reach ECG’s vending or billing pipe.
That is legitimate when the biller is actually ECG, the identifier is actually your prepaid meter, and the confirmation shows the registered name you expect. It is fragile when the menu is redesigned, when “pay bill” and “buy airtime” sit one key apart, or when you are buying at night with a dying torch and a neighbour shouting advice.
AT and Telecel are not the same company, and sub-menus drift. If your handset’s *110# does not show ECG where a year-old blog said it would, believe the screen in your hand, not the screenshot on Facebook.
ECG’s own doors still exist on a Telecel SIM
*226# is not an MTN product. It is ECG’s USSD. A Telecel SIM that can complete USSD sessions can dial it. People skip it because they only remember the wallet code, or because *226# failed once during congestion and they never went back.
PowerApp is also not MTN-only. You log in with a Ghana number. ECG texts an OTP. If that SMS is late, ECG’s documented workaround is *713*414# within a short window — an OTP viewer, not a place to buy units. After login you save the prepaid meter, confirm the name, and pay with the wallet the app offers, which can include Telecel Cash or AT Money.
If PowerApp OTP is dead and *226# will not connect, you still have operator bill-pay and payments shortcodes. You do not have permission to send money to a Facebook “ECG officer.”
Where *714*22# sits for non-MTN wallets
Ewale at *714*22# and ewalepay.com is the path this site prefers as everyday memory: keypad phone or smartphone, name check, one PIN, token by SMS, plus Ghana Water and TV on the same code. Telecel and AT wallets can pay there. You do not need to “convert” to MTN to buy prepaid.
Preferred means: if you can only tattoo one electricity-related code on the fridge, make it *714*22#, and still know *226# exists. It does not mean you must abandon *110# if you are already on the ECG prepaid row with the right name showing.
Fairness also means fees. Operator menus, ECG rails, and third-party checkouts can show different totals. Read tonight’s confirmation. A cheaper fee is not extra kilowatt-hours. A dearer fee is not a better token. Tokens are about twenty digits of credit for a specific meter, not a raffle.
Prepaid versus the rest of the *110# jungle
ECG postpaid is an account you settle. ECG prepaid is a meter you feed with a token. *110# may list both, or list “ECG” once and let you type the wrong identifier. A postpaid payment will not light a prepaid display. A prepaid token will not clear a billed account.
Water, DSTV, and school fees may sit nearby. That proximity is useful if you know what you want. It is how people accidentally buy airtime for GH₵50 while explaining to a tenant that “the power money went.” Read every header.
Fake lookalikes do not only target MTN users. Personal MoMo numbers advertised as “Telecel ECG vendor 24/7” are still personal wallets. ECG customer care is 0302 611 611, not a WhatsApp broadcast.
Dual-SIM Telecel/MTN phones
Many Ghana handsets carry MTN for coverage and Telecel for a promo, or the reverse. USSD runs on the SIM that is selected for calls, or on a prompt that asks which SIM. The PIN hits the wallet that owns the prompt. The token SMS hits the number the vending system was told to text.
If you dial *110# on SIM 2 but the SMS inbox you are watching is SIM 1, you will swear the token never came. If you dial *714*22# on the SIM that has no wallet balance, the prompt will fail. Before blaming ECG, open the SIM settings and the wallet history.
*170# is irrelevant on a Telecel-only night except as trivia. Do not wander into MTN menus on the wrong SIM “because the internet said 170.”
A working order of operations on Telecel or AT
- Confirm it is prepaid emptiness, not a feeder outage. Neighbours with different meters who are also dark may be a grid problem. A token will not energise a dead feeder.
- Read the meter number from the plate or CIU.
- Choose one channel. Do not open *110#, *226#, and Ewale in parallel.
- Confirm the registered name. Abort if it is not the house.
- Approve one PIN. Watch wallet history.
- When the SMS arrives, enter the token on the meter. No spaces. Confirm key.
If the session drops, the rule is the same as on MTN: unknown until history speaks. No second buy because the USSD screen vanished.
If the debit sits and the SMS does not, wait longer than your anxiety wants, then use the reference with ECG 0302 611 611 or the checkout’s support. Switching from *110# to *226# “for luck” after a debit is how you own two tokens.
Which code should a Telecel household save?
Save *714*22# if you want one recitable code for power, water, and TV, including for relatives who use feature phones. Save *226# if your household rule is “only ECG-branded USSD.” Keep *110# if that is already how you pay everything and you can find ECG prepaid without a tutorial.
Keep PowerApp on the smartphone that actually receives SMS. Keep the care number. Keep the meter number on paper. Throw away flyers with personal wallets and mystery shortcodes.
*110# can buy ECG prepaid. It is not the definition of buying ECG prepaid. On a Telecel night, the winning channel is the one that shows the right name, takes one debit, and leaves you a token you can type — whether that channel wears a Telecel header, an ECG header, or an Ewale one.