Nigeria’s leading electricity distribution company, Ikeja
Electric (IE) Plc, has intensified the roll-out of prepaid meters to further
close the metering gap within its network, reports ITREALMS.
Disclosing this, Head, Corporate Communications, Ikeja Electric,
Mr. Felix Ofulue, said this commitment is in line with the regulator’s
guideline which states that all customers have a right to a properly
installed and functional meter, and un-metered customer should be issued with
electricity bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated billing methodology, the
DisCo emphasized that it is also poised to reduce estimated
billing with the deployment of prepaid meters.
He also told ITREALMS,
the company recently commenced the roll-out of 85,000 meters to cover
residential customers across its six Business Units, in its first batch of
renewed metering drive.
Mr. Ofulue equally said, the company remains resolute in its
commitment to meter all its customers and narrow the metering gap as quickly as
possible.
“Ikeja Electric wants to reassure customers and state clearly
its plans to progressively reduce estimated billing thereby building customers
trust in our services. At the moment, prepaid meters are being installed in
different communities across the network”.
“While in other localities, pre-installation activities are
ongoing and between now and the end of the year we will have concluded the
first batch of the deployment. We therefore urge our customers to be patient as
our ultimate objective is to ensure that all our customers are eventually metered,”
Ofulue noted.
Customers across the six business units – Ikeja, Abule-Egba,
Akowonjo, Oshodi, Ikorodu and Shomolu have indicated their eagerness to be
issued prepaid meters to prevent being billed through estimation.
With this move, the DisCO is adding its quota in narrowing the
metering gap. The recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
showed an increase of 1.59 percent in the number of prepaid meter customers,
which is an indication that the meter gap is gradually closing.
The Federal Government has consistently enjoined the DisCos to
provide meters to customers in a bid to narrow the gap, reduce complaints of
high consumption charges and estimated billing, in line with the Electric Power
Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005 to ensure an efficiently managed electricity
supply industry that meets the yearnings of Nigerians for stable, adequate and
safe electricity supply.
Nenye Dom/GEE
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