In its bid to bridge the over five million metering gap in the country, Ikeja Electric at the weekend, under the National Mass Metering Programme(NMMP) of the Federal Government commenced the installation of 106,701 across its six various Business Units of; Ikeja, Abule-Egba, Akowonjo, Oshodi, Ikorodu and Shomolu.
Speaking to the media at the flag-off of its NMMP programme, the Business Manager, Ikeja Electric, Oshodi Business Unit, Mr Taofik Basaya, stated that under the new initiative, customers will be metered over the next two months without making any upfront payment.
According to him, beneficiaries of the programme, which will cut across all locations in IE network, will not be required to pay upfront for the installation of meters. Rather, he said, the modalities of cost recovery for the meters will be clearly defined and communicated to the beneficiaries.
He explained that the primary objective of the NMMP was to increase the metering rate in the country and close the gap of unmetered customers to assist in reducing Discos collection losses, while at the same time, increasing financial flows to achieve 100 per cent market remittance obligation of the DisCos.
Part of the objectives of NMMP also include the elimination of arbitrary estimated billing, improving network monitoring capability and provision of data for market administration and investment decision-making.
Apart from its job creation potentials in the Meter value chain, the program, he said, will further strengthen the local meter value chain by increasing local meter manufacturing, assembly and deployment capacity, all in support of Nigeria’s economic recovery plan.
“You know that the Federal Government that is the promoter of NMMP has assured the masses that six million meters will be deployed to the network of all the Discos in the country. This is the arrangement that has started today and it is going to be done in two phases.
The first phase is the one we are in now and under it, the FG is going to roll out one million meters and that is to all Discos in the country. Out of the one million meters, 106,701 meters is coming to Ikeja Electric and we are commencing the installation today”.
He assured that MAP programme which is already ongoing will not be scrapped as it will run concurrently with the NMMP initiative.
The Project Manager, MAP, Meters Asset Management Company (MOJEC), Mr. Fogbonjaiye Tayo, revealed that the stock plan by MOJEC will not in anyway disrupt its ongoing MAP project, assuring that it marked enough meters for people that have paid under MAP and those intending to make payment in future.