8th December, 2016
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), says that plans are at advanced stage to begin mass installation of 65,000 meters in Niger and Kogi.
A statement from the management of AEDC in Abuja on Thursday, Said that the installation of the meters was in line with its commitment to metering all the customers under its jurisdiction.
It stated that the first phase of the exercise would begin with the installation of 5,000 meters for its customers in Lokoja, before the end of December.
The management stated that the installation of the remaining 60,000 meters for customers in various parts of Niger would begin by the end of January 2017.
AEDC stated that the company was optimistic that the provision of meters for its customers would address the misunderstandings associated with billing issues and reinforce the confidence of customers.
On the load shedding being experienced in its franchise areas, the company attributed the development to the drop in load allocated to it by the System Operator.
AEDC called on customers in Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger to discountenance insinuations that it was deliberately starving them of electricity.
It explained that in the invent of limited power available to it, load shedding to its customers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the three states under its operation became inevitable.
The company appealed to customers to show understanding on the development, noting that it had never failed to distribute the load allocated to it by the system operator.
AEDC said it had over time taken load in excess of its allocation to meet customers’ demand and would continue to optimise its load shedding to ensure fair distribution of energy.
Electricity customers had over time complained of the quality services being rendered to them by electricity distribution companies in the country.
Their complaints include estimated billing, indiscriminate increase in electricity bills, irregular disconnection, non supply of transformers, non supply of meters and cables, damage to property and fluctuation in electricity.
They also listed unsatisfactory services by system operators in the industry as part of their complaints.