Amidst complaints by electricity consumers over arbitrary increases in tariff under the guise of estimated billings and lack of access to meters, Ikeja Electric Plc (IE), says it has metered over one hundred and twenty thousand households between 2018 and June 2020.
This is in line with its commitment to bridge its metering gap, it said.
In order to achieve the mandate of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to bridge the metering gap and reduce the incidence of estimated bills, the company claimed it has doubled its efforts to realise its objective of metering all its customers in the shortest possible time.
“The company plans to meter another 400,000 customers over the next two years. Apart from eradicating estimated billing, Ikeja Electric’s metering programme has also provided jobs, directly and indirectly, for thousands of Lagosians and Nigerians in general, particularly during the lockdown,” Felix Ofulue, the company’s Head of Corporate Communications, disclosed.
According to him, metering of its customers under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme is ongoing, despite logistical challenges emanating from the Covid-19 pandemic. The company has also metered Maximum Demand (MD) customers in the network and conducts periodic recertification of the meters in line with Regulatory procedures.
“In addition to consumer metering, Ikeja Electric has also metered all the 33kv /11kv feeders from the injection stations ensuring energy accountability across its delivery points. In addition, the local distribution transformers have also been metered up to 100 percent while the metering of newly installed transformers after completion of the project is ongoing,” he explained
Ofulue urged customers who are yet to apply for meters, to take advantage of the MAP scheme and apply through the IE portal, map.ikejaelectric.com, using their Ikeja Electric’s account number on the bill to log into the portal and update their KYC (Know Your Customer) details.
He noted that Ikeja Electric has set up a debt resolution panel in the Six Business Units to address complaints on outstanding bills and other related issues to ensure reconciliation while customers are processing the application for meter.
With regards to payment for meters, he stressed that “customers must always pay into the designated bank account provided by the MAP and they must always include their Application Reference Number (ARN) when making these payments”.
In the same vein, he also explained that with the upward review of meter prices by NERC, the new price for Single Phase Meter is now N48,263.37, while Three Phase Meter is now N89,069.33). All prices are inclusive of VAT and became effective from June 1, 2020.
However, customers who have paid before June 1, 2020 under the MAP scheme, but yet to be metered should forward their payment evidence stating Account Name, Application Reference Number (ARN) and IE Account Number to [email protected] for prompt confirmation.
