NAIRAMETRICS

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED), has flagged off the distribution of about 1 million pre-paid meters to customers in its 4 coverage states—Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Rivers.

This was disclosed by Dr. Henry Ajagbawa, Managing Director of the company, during the flag-off ceremony of the exercise in Port Harcourt.

According to NAN, Dr. Ajagbawa said that the metering exercise, which would be done in phases, is expected to close the company’s metering gap of over 851,000 in its coverage states.

This is a drive towards achieving the objective of the National Mass Metering Programme (NIMMP) launched by the Federal Government.

Optics: The National Mass Metering Programme (NIMMP) stresses the need to close the nation’s metering gap.

This is in a bid to bring about the efficiency of revenue collection by Distribution Companies (DisCos), thereby enabling them to meet their obligations towards other upstream market participants.

What they are saying

The Managing Director of the company, while speaking at the flag-off ceremony of the exercise, said: “The mass metering exercise will begin in Rivers state, followed by Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Cross Rivers until every single customer is metered, and the exercise is going to be done in phases, and we are starting with phase zero with the deployment of 77,000 metres to homes and offices in Rivers. Thereafter, we will move to phase one of the mass metering of customers across our franchise area.”

He revealed that the company had plans for customers using obsolete meters.

“Aside our metering gap of 851,000 meters, we need another 100,000 meters to replace other metres. So, we need a total of about one million meters. In addition, we expect that we should be able to install a minimum of 20,000 meters per month, meaning that it will take us about three years to meter the four states.

“On completion of the exercise within the shortest possible time, customers will no longer have complaints of the estimated bill. However, customers should prepare to change their old habits by managing their electricity to enable them to afford their energy consumption,” he added.

What you should know

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) joined the league of DisCos that have taken serious steps towards achieving the goal of closing the metering gap in the National Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

Recall that Nairametrics earlier reported that Ikeja Electric had commenced the rollout of pre-paid meters under the National Mass Metering Programme.

In line with this programme, Ikeja Electric Plc (IE) stated that it was committed to driving the rollout through a series of one-day metering initiatives across different locations in its network.

The metering initiative is designed to ensure a seamless metering process that allows customers to register and be metered on the same day after following due process.