The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company has revealed that it plans to provide 958,000 meters to its customers in the next three years under the Meter Asset Provider scheme.
The IBEDC said it is collaborating with 7 Meter Asset Providers to deploy the meters to customers across its franchise area of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and parts of Kogi, Ekiti and Niger states.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission approved 42 MAPs in April and asked the distribution companies to commence the deployment of meters effective May 1, 2019.
There are two options provided in the MAP regulation for acquiring a meter: upfront payment and payment in instalments.
NERC said customers could get meters and pay in instalments within one year or a maximum of 10 years, starting from this month.
The Chief Operating Officer, IBEDC, Mr John Ayodele, who spoke at a town hall meeting organised by the Disco in Ibadan to enlighten its customers about MAP, said the company was determined to put an end to estimated billing.
He said, “The reason why we have brought people here is for them to know their rights and obligations under MAP so that they don’t get cheated. The number of meters to be deployed is about 958,000 across our franchise area.”
Ayodele said the meter rollout would start this month, adding that the power firm was putting in place a payment mechanism to avoid cash transactions.
The COO said due diligence was done to ascertain the capability of the MAPs to deliver on the job.
“Before we contracted them, all the MAPs brought their financial books out for us and some supporting banks gave them letters of support,” he added.
According to him, customers are to pay N38, 325 for a single-phase meter and N70,350 for a three-phase meter, including Value-Added Tax.
He urged customers to go through the proper channel to avoid fraudulent activities “as there are no hidden charges; no processing fees and no application fees of any kind.”
He added that other town hall meetings would be held across the IBEDC franchise areas to educate customers and other stakeholders on the MAP scheme.
