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The builder's path

Five steps from a problem to its solution.

For: Electricity customers in Nigeria without a meter can't check whether their estimated bill is above the regulator's cap.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

ὁ δὲ ἀνεξέταστος βίος οὐ βιωτὸς ἀνθρώπῳ

Socrates · Plato, Apology 38a

Routes to a solution

Six ways to take this forward

Each route is a different kind of journey, with real people and organisations to contact at each step, starting with those in Nigeria.

  1. Step 1

    Find a lab or university incubator

    Researchers and students who can test it properly.

  2. Step 2

    Win a research grant

    Funding for a rigorous trial or study.

What this problem needs

Ideas, sources and tools for this problem, from first interviews to funding.

  • Open data
  • Forms and documents
  • Mobile
  • Alerts

Ideas to explore

  • Idea 1Bill versus cap checkerLoad the regulator's monthly cap tables by distribution company and feeder; the customer picks their feeder and enters the billed kWh to see the difference.
  • Idea 2Complaint packGenerate a dated complaint with the bill, the cap and the gap, addressed to the company's customer care and then to the regulator's forum office.

Specific to this problem

Talk to first

Starter prompt

Built from this problem's brief. Paste it into Claude or any AI assistant.

Copy and open Claude ↗
Help me design and build a first working prototype for this problem in Nigeria.

Problem: Electricity customers in Nigeria without a meter can't check whether their estimated bill is above the regulator's cap.
Who it hurts: Households and small shops still billed by estimate because they have no prepaid meter.
The moment it hurts: A monthly bill that looks too high for a home that had power only a few hours a day.
What people do today: Customers argue with the distribution company or pay. The regulator sets monthly caps by feeder and fines companies after reviews, months later.
Why it is still unsolved: Caps are set per feeder and month, and customers don't know their feeder or where to find the cap that applies to them.
What solved looks like: A customer enters their account number or address and bill amount, and sees their feeder, that month's energy cap, whether the bill exceeds it, and a ready complaint to the distribution company and the regulator's forum office.
Where: Nigeria

First, list what you would need to learn from the people affected before building, as interview questions.
Then propose the simplest version that would help, the screens or messages it needs, and the data it would use.
Keep it cheap to run, accessible, and respectful of people's privacy. Flag anything you are unsure about instead of guessing.

  1. Understand it

    Talk to the people who live it before you build.

    “Know thyself.”

    γνῶθι σεαυτόν

    gnōthi seauton

    Inscription at Delphi · Temple of Apollo

  2. Prototype with AI

    Get a working version in front of people fast.

    Using AI is not cheating. Every tool carries the work of the people who made it, and using it well is how knowledge has always moved forward. The thinking, the care for the people who live the problem, and the judgement are still yours.

    “The Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves.”
    Ada Lovelace · Notes on Menabrea's Sketch of the Analytical Engine, Note A (1843)

  3. Find the data

    Open data that fits this problem.

    “You cannot step twice into the same river.”
    Heraclitus · Fragment B91, via Plato's Cratylus

  4. Build it

    Tools matched to what this problem needs.

    “Tasks are achieved by effort, not by wishing.”

    उद्यमेन हि सिध्यन्ति कार्याणि न मनोरथैः

    udyamena hi sidhyanti kāryāṇi na manorathaiḥ

    Hitopadeśa · Introduction

  5. Launch and get support

    Ship it responsibly, and find help and funding.

    “Speak the truth. Do what is right.”

    सत्यं वद। धर्मं चर।

    satyaṃ vada, dharmaṃ cara

    Taittirīya Upaniṣad · 1.11.1

Kit written for this problem from its brief; every link was checked. Links go to each provider's own site. Zetema is not paid for any listing.