Peter Uzoho
The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) will today commence the installation of meters to 915, 000 unmetered customers under its franchise areas.
The Chief Operating Officer of IBEDC, Mr. John Ayodele, disclosed this yesterday in Ibadan during an interview with journalists on the sidelines of the first town hall meeting organised by the Disco to enlighten its customers about the metering process.
Ayodele said the IBEDC had successfully engaged the services of seven Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) to ensure all customers were duly metered to bring to an end the controversial estimated billing. “The meter rollout will start on the first of August; that is our target but we are still trying to put in place the mechanism for payment because we don’t want any cash transactions. All transactions must be electronic, you either pay in the bank or you pay through your phone.
“So, we want to perfect that because we don’t want a situation where the situation is hacked by somebody else and the money is going somewhere else. And once you pay your money, you have your receipt then we are obliged to use your product. If by 1st of August, we cannot achieve this, it will not take more than a week after to kick off,” Ayodele said.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had directed all distribution companies to commence rolling out meters from May 1, 2019.
The COO also defended the capacity of the vendors working with the company, explaining that due diligence was done to ascertain their capability to deliver on the job
“Before we contracted them, all the MAPs brought their financial books out for us and some supporting bank also gave them letters to support, ” he added.
Ayodele restated the commitment of the Disco in ensuring that all the customers were metered with ease at a going rate of N38, 325 for a single-phase meter and N70, 350 for a three-phase meter, including Value-added Tax (VAT).
He appealed to the customers of the company to go through the proper channel to avoid fraudulent activities, as there are no hidden charges, no processing fees and no application fees of any kind.
Ayodele, stated that upon completion of meter application processes with payment duly received, a customer must be metered within 10 working
days.
He added that other town hall meetings would be held across the IBEDC franchise arrears to educate and enlighten customers and stakeholders on the MAP scheme.
