Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has stated that it has provided meters for 3,500 out of the 3,900 maximum demand (MD) customers under its network.
In an update on the implementation of its MD metering programme, the company also stated that the MD customers were placed under an automated meter reading (AMR) system, which allows them to monitor their electricity consumption patterns from their premises, while it observes the working conditions of the meters from a control centre at its head office.
AEDC’s Managing Director, Ernest Mupwaya disclosed this to the members of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy who were recently at the company’s headquarters in Abuja to take stock of its operations.
Mupwaya explained that another 76,000 meters were installed in the homes of other categories of customers through the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) that was set up by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), but has now been rested.
He noted that the Disco’s has adopted an aggressive strategy in its deployment of meter to its customers because it wanted to effectively deal with consumers’ misgivings on estimated billing method.
Mupwaya equally stated that the Disco wanted to reduce the huge financial revenue it incurred on a monthly basis from consumers’ non-payment of bills for electricity services rendered to them.
“First of all, we recognise that affordable, adequate and safe electricity is a key ingredient to any sustainable economic development, and that we cannot talk of sustainable progress if we are providing a service that is not satisfactory. This is why we are conscious of improving our customer satisfaction level,” Mupwaya told the committee, which included its chairman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, its deputy chairman, Senator Mustapha Bukar, as well as Senators Mao Samuel Ohuabunwa, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, and Ahmed Salau Ogembe.
Similarly, the Disco has initiated a two-year Business Process Reengineering (BPR) project to instill better work culture, greater productivity and improved customer service delivery within its workforce.
To drive the BPR project, the Disco said it selected 76 of its employees. It charged them to drive the reform project which according to it would lead to it employees striving for excellence in the discharge of their respective official tasks.
Mupwaya in his request from the workers on the need to adopt a fresh approach to their job, stated that they cannot continue to do things the same way and expect different results from same.
He equally reminded them that with the privatisation of the power sector, customers expected high levels of service delivery from the Disco, thus, the need for adjustment to standard practices for improved service delivery.
Mupwaya noted that the recent ranking of the Disco by the NERC as the overall best performing Disco in Nigeria in the third quarter of 2016 was an indication that it was the right path to realising its vision to be a world class utility soon.
