EEDC begins FG’s mass metering programme in Abakaliki

The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has started installing free meters for its customers in Abakaliki under the Federal Government (FG) National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).

Mr Emeka Ezeh, the Head of Communication, EEDC told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Abakaliki on Friday.

Ezeh said that the metering exercise was free and designed to capture all eligible customers of the company in the state.

He said that households that illegally connected to the grid would not benefit from the free metering programme.

“Households that are enjoying our services but are not in our book, those ones cannot expect to be metered because we don’t even know that they exist until we find them out and bring them into our billing platform.

“But, the good news is that the National Mass Metering Programme, which is what we have ongoing currently, is an initiative of the federal government designed to close the metering gap we have in the network.

“That is to say that every customer that is not metered is expected to be metered during this programme,” Ezeh said.

He explained that Ebonyi was part of the company’s areas of coverage, others being the South-East states of Enugu, Imo, Anambra and Abia states.

Ezeh said that every customer within these states that was not metered would benefit from the free metering exercise which would be done in phases.

“The exercise is not something that will start in a day and end in a day; it is a process that is ongoing, and until we cover the grounds we will not rest,” the spokesman said.

He said to effectively fund the project, the FG had advanced a loan through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the distribution companies to acquire the meters.

“We are collecting loan from the CBN and the loan is expected to be serviced by the distribution companies (DISCOS).

“The loan initiative is a way of supporting the DISCOs to address this aspect of their operations that is posing a big challenge,” he said.

Ezeh said that the programme had captured 92,000 customers in the first phase which began in January.

“We have metered 92,000 customers in phase zero, which is the first phase of the programme, using two of our districts, Oguiyi and Abakpa districts as pilots.

“We selected some feeders from these districts and used them as pilot, and having concluded with the pilot districts, we moved to other areas, and that is why we are now in Abakaliki.

“We have six feeders that we have carried out pre-survey on, and metering is ongoing in these areas; it is a project we are excited about and will want to see succeed,” he noted.

Ezeh appealed to customers to report any EEDC official that demanded gratification from them to install meters, reiterating that both the meter and its installation were free.