by James Sambo

Neil Croucher, the Managing Director of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) on Tuesday said the company has provided prepayment meters for 404,000 electricity consumers since it began operations.

Mr. Croucher made this disclosure at a public consultation on the Credited Advance Payment for Metering (CAPMI) organised by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

CAPMI is an arrangement between the electricity distribution companies and willing consumers to advance funds for the purchase and installation of meters.

In his presentation at the event, Abimbola Ogunbiyi, the Executive Director, Regulation and Stakeholders Affairs, said that AEDC would provide 8,000 meters for its consumers monthly in 2015.

Ogunbiyi who represented Mr. Croucher said the company is working towards eliminating the controversial estimated billing system as soon as possible.

He stated that options available to the company to bridge the metering gap is through mass provision of meters and CAPMI scheme, adding that 12, 628 consumers registered under the scheme had paid for the meters.

Earlier, Vice Chairman of NERC, Mr Mohammed Bello, who represented the chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, said that the meeting was aimed at interacting with consumers to resolve problems in the sector.

He urged AEDC to improve on its customer service in order to resolve contentious issues.

While speaking at the event, Shaubu Shittu, Assistant General Manager, Government and Consumer Affairs of NERC, gave the merits of deploying the CAPMI saying it would minimize estimation of electricity bills and enhance revenue for the company.

He advised consumers who paid for meters to always insist on its installation within 45 days, saying that one of the priorities of NERC was speedy metering of consumers.

Shittu said that NERC was considering the exploration of other avenues of metering customers in order to eliminate estimated bills syndrome.

Isime Esene