Why we’re yet to meter all electricity consumers ―AEDC

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8 years ago

THE Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), at the weekend, said electricity tariff has not been cost reflective, hence the delay witnessed in metering installations.

This was disclosed by the AEDC Managing Director, Engr Ernest Mupwaya at a one-day workshop for energy correspondents Themes:”Deepening the reportage of the NESI for effective customer education,” held in Abuja.

He explained that before the CAPMI programme was phased out, about 78,559 meters were installed while the Discos has successfully been able to install 120,000 afterward.

However, he noted that the plan for mass metering has not been as fast as it should be saying; “Why the metering is not moving as fast as it should is because the time which it should have been cost-effective has been eroded because there is no cost recovery in terms of tariff.”

He stated that the sharp upward movement of the exchange rate also have affected the procurement of meters, saying; “For example, the sharp movement of the foreign exchange moved from N165 to over N400 it means that the number of meters to be bought with the existing revenue has automatically reduced.

According to him, between January 2015 to August 2017, the cost of wholesale energy tariff was increased to about 103 percent while the AEDC tariff merely increased by 16 percent.

“What would have happened is that every 3 months, there should have been adjustments to make up for the losses but this has not happened since late early last year.”

He affirmed that although; “NERC tried to give us a tariff that could accommodate all these improvements,” but noted that the calculation of the tariff did not reflect the exchange rate and the level of inflation.

Mupwaya, however, maintained that metering of all electricity customers within its franchise would enable the company to recover the cost.

He assured that by 2018 the metering pace would be accelerated.

Also in his presentation on the “AEDC-The Journey So Far”, the MD lamented the increase in energy theft one of which includes meter bypassing.

He stated that the company has partnered with the Nigeria Police, Civil Defence, Ministry of Justice and other security agencies to tackle the menace.