Yemisi Izuora/Ijeoma Agudosi
Eko Electricity Distribution Company said that over 200,000 smart meters would be deployed to various categories of customers in a move to ensure customer satisfaction by curbing estimated billing.
Oladele Amoda, MD/CEO explained that the company do not enjoy billing customers on estimation as insinuated by Labour Union.
He said that the Eko disco have ordered for large quantity of meters for its customers as directed by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to ensure all customers are metered within the next five years.
He further said that company has taken delivery of over 76, 000 smart meters, while 100,000 meters is still being expected to be deliver by Mojec meter manufacturing company in the next three months.
“We are trying ensure that we install 200,000 smart meter between second quarter of the year to December 2016 having installed about 46,000 meters to date.
We are patronising local meter manufacturers and they have promised to meet up with the delivery time frame to meet our customers’ mandate.
We contracted our Maximum Demand meters (MD) to Atron of France so that indigenous contractors would concentrate on three phases and single phases and also we have ordered for 7,500 MD meters but taken have delivery of 3,000”, he said.
Amoda said that the new smart metring would address challenges confronting the company as customers by-pass meter, energy thefts and other related criminal activities.
He said that the technology would indicate in their office when customers tamper with the meter, adding that every customers would be metered before the stipulated five years directed by NERC.
According to him, We have invested about 15 million dollars (N3 billion) on MD meters, while about N52billion would be spent on smart metering within the next three years programme.
All meters are duly certified before usage, we have been with the local manufacturers for quite a while and they have been doing their best.
The local meter manufacturers would gradually meet up the meter demand, the meters would be free but would be administered in phases, while those who cannot wait can key into the CAMPI programmes.
We are going replace all obsolete meters within our network, while new customers without meter would be focused on, Amoda explained.