As part of efforts to ensure the metering of all its customers, the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has piloted its planned metering scheme with the installation of 5,000 prepaid electricity meters in Tunga area of Niger State.
Addressing journalists after an inspection visit to the installation sites in Minna, the company’s executive director, Commercial Services, Engr. Ernest Mupwaya, noted that the pilot scheme was aimed at assessing the efficacy of the smart meters installed ahead of the mass roll out of 100,000 meters in 2016.
According to Mupwaya, “The rationale behind the installation of the meters is to ensure that we sell a product for which the customers are confident and sure that they are getting value for the electricity they are paying for.”
Mupwaya, who was speaking on behalf of AEDC’s managing director, Neil Croucher, added that “Meters allow the customers and the company to monitor adequate use and amount of electricity allocated to each meter through a device attached to it and also our control room.”
He further explained that the overall plan of the company was to have all its customers metered within four to five years, stressing that the ongoing pilot scheme would enable the company to assess all challenges involved for it to evolve a more robust way of deploying the new meters across its coverage area of FCT, Niger, Kogi and Nasarawa States.
He further disclosed that the investment in the metering project has been captured in the new tariff which has just been approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).