By Patrick Andrew Abuja
Complaints by electricity consumers within the catchment area of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) over estimated billings may soon be a thing of the past as the fi rm has signed a N2.4 billion mass meter production agreement with an indigenous fi rm MOJEC for the production of 60,000 meters. Th e agreement, which is for the production of 48,000 single and 12,000 three phases meters, will boost the total number of meters the AEDC has procured this year by 90,000 plus the initial 30,000 meters that it had earlier purchased and distributed to customers. Th is development will ensure that the AEDC meters the annual 120,000 meter procurement for distribution to customers within its catchment area and thus reduced the numbers of unmetered customers which has had adverse eff ect on its fi nancial profi le. Speaking at the signing ceremony at its corporate headquarters in Abuja, the AEDC Managing Director, Engr. Ernest Mupwaya, said the desire to signed agreement for mass meter production was predicated on the fi rm’s determination to reduce losses incurred through underbilling and theft of energy by some anti-social elements. Th e fi rm also said the procurement of large numbers of meters for free distribution to customers would bring transparency to the billing processes thereby increasing customer confi dence and willingness to pay.
Engr. Mupwaya added that the measure is intended to improve the revenue and billing effi ciency of the DisCos and engender long time eff ect of reducing tariff s, even as he assured customers that the AEDC would continue to work assiduously to step up effi ciency by ensuring steady supply of electricity depending on what is made available to it by the generation companies. Th e MD said the meters would be distributed to customers in areas where enumeration has been conducted to determine customer needs, and other profi le noting that enumeration was prelude to meter distribution. Similarly, the Chairman of the local meter manufacturing company, Mrs. Mojisola Abdul, expressed delight in the confi dence the AEDC has placed in the fi rm to produce mass meters for its customers, assuring that it would deliver quality meters to the AEDC and in good time. She also assured that MOJEC has the competence and capacity to meet the 60,000 requirement noting that it actually has the manpower and capacity to produce annually 1.1million meters and as such the 60,000 needed by the AEDC was far below its capacity. Already, she said the fi rm has entered into agreement produce and to supply meters to Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company, and its counterparts in Enugu, Jos and Eko, adding that so far it has demonstrated its capacity to meet requirements on schedule and has never disappointed
