No fewer than 893 locations comprising formations, properties and utilities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) have been metered by the Distribution companies (Discos) in Lagos State.
We gathered that Wednesday that the Discos — Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric (IE) — have some 1,081 of such MDAs’ facilities within their networks in the state.
Recall that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had given an Aug. 31 deadline to the power distribution companies to install meters in Federal and State Government MDAs.
The order was jointly signed by Prof. James Momoh, Chairman, NERC and Mr Dafe Akpeneye of the Legal Licensing and Compliance at NERC.
The commission said it was mandatory for the power distributors to provide all the MDAs with appropriate meters within a period of 60 days, beginning from July 1.
Mr Godwin Idemudia, the General Manager, Corporate Communications of EKEDC, confirmed to NAN that metering of MDAs within its network was about 89 per cent completed.
According to Idemudia, EKEDC has 798 MDAs’ facilities on its network, with 710 metered, while 88 have yet to be metered.
He said the company was being owed about N22.5 billion to date, which was also affecting the operations of the company.
The EKEDC’s spokesman said the company was faced with lots of challenges in ensuring all MDAs were metered.
He said part of the challenges included rejection of prepaid meters by some MDAs because it was the central body that settled bills, as well as untidy electricity installations.
According to Idemudia, three out of seven Meter Assets Providers (MAPs) — Mojec International Limited, Integrated Resources Limited and Turbo Energy Limited — have commenced metering within their network.
“The accredited MAPs within our network include Mojec International Limited, Bendoricks International Limited and CIG Metering Assets Nigeria Limited.
“Others are Integrated Resources Limited, Armese Consulting Limited, Turbo Energy Limited and Gospell Digital Tech. Limited,” he said.
Similarly, Mr Felix Ofulue, Head, Corporate Communications of IE, confirmed to NAN that 183 such properties of MDAs out of 283 had been metered within its network.
Ofulue said it had been a challenge for the company to meter the MDAs, as some of them were refusing meters.
He said that there were also issues of bypassing meters, which posed serious challenge to the company.
“All our three MAPs have commenced work across our network. So, every unmetered customer can apply through map.ikejaelectric.com,” he said.
Days to the expiration of the Aug. 31 deadline given to the Discos to meter MDAs, Dr Usman Abba-Arabi, General Manager, Public Affairs, NERC, had told NAN that the action to be taken after the date would depend on the report received from the Discos.
“We have given directive to Discos to meter all MDAs by Aug. 31 deadline and we have to wait for their report at the end of the month before we can take any decision.
“We can’t assume or predict what sanctions to be meted to defaulters as we speak because the month has not ended and we have not received Discos reports.
”When Discos report back at the end of the month, we will now study, analyse and give position based on their reports,” Abba-Arabi had said
The order for metering stated that the responsibility and initiative for revenue collection from all customers including ministries, departments and agencies of states and Federal Government rests with the Discos.
The commission added that all Discos reserved the right to disconnect any MDA defaulting on the payment for electricity in line with the Regulation on Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services.
