Nigeria: Ikeja Electric Vows To Fulfil Regulator’s Directive

Electricity distributor, Ikeja Electric plans to install approximately 100,000 pre-paid meters under the latest Meter Asset Providers (MAP) initiative.

According to The Guardian, the roll out will be implemented from 17 June, covering the Ikorodu business unit.

This move is in accordance with a directive from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to bridge the lingering metering gap, which affects the billing system.

To execute the programme, Ikeja Electric has forged a partnership with a meter asset provider, New Hampshire Capital Limited, which will facilitate the provision of the meters to cover three business units including Ikorodu, Abule Egba and Shomolu.

Speaking at the launch, Ikeja Electric’s Acting Chief Commercial Officer, Ugo Obichukwu noted that currently over 400,000 of their customers are unmetered.

This fact according to Obichukwu, is the reason why the company seeks to cover between 70 to 100,000 customers for phase one of the MAP implementation.

He said: “We believe we can meter about 20,000 customers in a month provided we have all our MAPs in place.”

Obichukwu further stated that the company has resorted to an online portal for registration platform to ensure efficiency and so far about 14,000 customers have visited the portal with about 5,000 registering for the first step of registration, know your customer (KYC).

The power distributor advised customers to take advantage of the various repayment options available on the KYC process, underlining that outstanding balance can be rolled over into the customer’s prepaid account and paid in instalments.

Meters procured at different prices

The Guardian has gathered that some customers under the Ikeja Electric network have procured meters at different prices.

However, Obichukwu refuted the claims that his company has been slow in its implementation of the scheme when compared to other distribution companies.

“We have meters already in store. When you sign contract with MAPs, they also source meters either locally or abroad to meet demands, but we are sure to meet our roll out plans,” he added.

Meanwhile, chief executive director of New Hampshire Capital limited, Odion Omonfoman noted that their mandate is to finance and provide meters for customers as third party operators as directed by NERC.

Omonfoman said their 10-year contract with the power distributor commences with the provision of about 276,000 meters over the next 20 to 22 months, adding that the firm’s target would be to install about 10,000 meters at the peak of operation when it starts by next week.

Source: Esi-Africa.com