…Deploys 200,000 smart meters
IN a deft move designed to address the major need of electricity consumers in the South East, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has embarked on a massive metering of its customers.
With a total of 200,000 meters set to be deployed, Enugu DISCO is fulfilling its commitment to meter all its customers as well as boost growth in the Nigerian Metering market.
To this effect, it has awarded contracts to three leading Metering companies: Mojec International Limited, MBH Power and Genus Power Infrastructure Limited.
The program is a continuation of EEDC’s ongoing metering of its Maximum Demand (MD) customers, and the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI), a program designed to enable willing customers within the network obtain their meter by advancing funds to EEDC to purchase and install these meters for them.
Metering customers has been a major challenge facing most distribution companies; and the peculiarity of high prevalence of energy theft and meter bypass in the South East region has not also helped the situation. As a matter of fact, over 70 per cent of the prepaid meters on the network are bypassed.
EEDC has, therefore, deployed Geographical Information System (GIS) to map the network areas, and equally embarked on elaborate enumeration of its customers with a view to providing a sustainable and comprehensive all smart metering framework that will address and forestall the high prevalence of meter bypass and energy theft in the region.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Mr. Robert Dickerman, said: “We have identified metering as a major need of our customers, and providing them with meter is our primary obligation as an organisation. We are hopeful that with the deployment of these meters, our collection and energy losses will be reduced drastically”.
He added: “Metering our customers has always been our priority, but due to the high level of energy theft and meter bypass, which constitute the huge revenue loss, we had to fine-tune and perfect our metering processes”.
EEDC promises to sustain this multibillion metering program on incremental basis, as that is the only way the current metering gap can be closed up.
Customers are therefore advised to protect EEDC installations, avoid tampering with these meters and pay their electricity bills promptly.