The Benin Electricity Distribution Company(BEDC) has revealed that no fewer than 65,452 meters would soon be issued to electricity consumers in Ekiti state.
The distribution company stated that the moves were to ensure accurate metering and put in place mechanism to safeguard the rights of electricity consumers in the state.
The BEDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Funke Osibodu while speaking with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti on Monday maintained that metering all consumers would encourage the willingness to pay the monthly bills and reduce the burden of huge debt being owed by consumers through estimated billings.
Represented by the Executive Director in charge of Commercial, Dr Abu Ejoor, said this during the official launch of the mapping and enumeration exercises leading to the registration of consumers to have access to meters.
Osibodu urged the government to implement relevant laws to stop cases of vandalism, advising that mobile courts can be set up to try some of the criminals perpetrating this nefarious act.
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She said the mapping and enumeration initiatives were in line with the directive of the National Electricity Regulation Commission NERC), to encourage the development of independent and competitive meter services, eliminate estimated billings, attract private investments, close the metering gap and ensure revenue assurance in Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry.
According to her: “The customer’s premises will be cleared whether you want a single or double faces before you are metered. Metering will start from Ado Ekiti and move to other local governments. We warn that customers should not pay cash to enumerators or mappers, they should pay to our designated banks.
“An average of 13,542 megawatts is supplied to Ekiti on monthly basis and 14 per cent of the power generated is lost due to poor Network facilities and technical losses caused by non-payment of bills and theft.
“We want our customers to cooperate with our officers as they move around to capture them in the two exercises because the enumeration process will help in resolving almost 60 per cent of the complaints from customers,” he said.
Osibodu lamented that the greatest challenges of electricity supply in Ekiti have always been the transmission bottlenecks, vandalism, massive energy theft, high community unrest and huge debt owed on bills.
The BEDC official in charge of Ekiti, Mrs Kunbi Labiyi, said the company has been trying to improve electricity supply despite the administrative and technical hitches it suffers, saying some communities have been energised to boost the economy and diversify the economy from the civil service structure.
Labiyi added that the BEDC is also tapping into the off-grid electricity generation options, in partnership with the state government for improved electricity supply and robust economy.
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