EKEDC installs 321,306 prepaid meters for electricity consumers

By Uthman Salami

The Managing Director, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Mr. Adeoye Fadeyebi, said the company has had 321,306 prepaid meters installed to its customers across board.

He said that figures the company had dispensed to electricity consumers within its area of coverage spanned from 608,252 prepaid meters for 321,306 since its commencement eight years ago.

The Director made this disclosure during the Senate Committee on Privatisation paid an oversight visit to the company during the week.

The committee was led by its Chairman, Sen. Theodore Orji.

Under the ongoing National Mass Metering Programme of the Federal Government, Fadeyibi said the figure represented 53 per cent of the DisCo’s customers, noting that about 78,000 customers had been metered so far.

Fadeyibi said EKEDC had consistently led the distribution market by focusing on key initiatives and investing in state-of-the-art technology.

“EKEDC invested 13.7 million dollars in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for the purpose of Distribution Network Management.

“Subsequently, over $1.6 million was spent on the impressive Geographical Information System (GIS) for realtime customer information and asset management.

“This project has since been applauded by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for being the most accurate at over 90 per cent accuracy,” he said.

He further disclosed that in the last five years, EKEDC had spent over $94million for replacement as well as upgrading the obsolete equipment such as power transformers, panels and breakers as well as refurbishing dilapidated Injection Substations.

He revealed that the DisCo was envisaging an estimated cost investment of approximately $259 million to upgrade its network going forward.

He said this would significantly reduce the frequency of interruptions due to technical faults, thereby increasing average supply of energy to customers.

Fadeyibi said it would also reduce the average downtime during interruptions, significant reduction in Technical Losses and increased realtime monitoring of the network resulting in proactive responses to failures.

Meanwhile, he appreciated the federal government ingenuity for the initiative of providing free prepaid meters to Nigerians, which he said had helped in bridging the metering gap in the country.

On his part, the Chairman of the committee, Senator Theodore Orji, noted that the privatisation of public entities was carried out by government following complaints of poor performances by Nigerians.

He said years after the exercise, some of the companies are witnessing better performances while others have not delivered the desired expectations.

Orji said the duty of the committee was, therefore, to interface with the companies on how to improve their performances for national development.