Energy theft responsible for ‘crazy’ bills in some communities, says EKEDC

The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) says the act of bypassing electricity meters was responsible for estimated billing, otherwise known as “crazy bill” in most communities.

Tinuade Sanda, managing director, EKEDC, said this at a customer engagement forum organised by the Disco in Lagos on Thursday.

According to NAN, customers present at the forum were from the Orile district, Surulere, Aguda, Coker, Orile, Ikate, Animashaun and Doyin zones.

Sanda said the town hall meeting was an avenue to interface with customers and address issues confronting communities under EKEDC’s network.

Sanda was represented by Joseph Ezenwa, chief finance officer, EKEDC said the essence of the meeting was to collaborate with customers.

She also said estimated billing was a product of energy theft within a community, which included bypassing electricity meters.

According to her, the act of bypassing electricity meters is one of the major causes of estimated billing.

“As a company, we bill accurately based on consumption on every feeder, while we also discovered that some customers engage in energy theft within the communities,” she said.

“There is a need for every customer to be vigilant to identify those engaging in energy theft in the communities.”

On metering, Sanda further said the company would commence the installation of meters on poles to curb energy theft and bypass meters within its network.

She also said the company had commenced effective metering through the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme, where meters would be installed within 10 working days after confirmation of payment.

She urged customers to key into the MAP scheme as a way of addressing estimated billings.

She added that the company had installed over 78,000 free meters under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) Phase 0 Scheme.

According to her, “the NMMP is an initiative of the Federal Government, where meters are provided to customers for free, and the goal of the initiative is to meter all customers within five years (2025)”.

She said the NMMP had been suspended, hence Phase 1 of the programme was yet to commence.

“Pending when it commences, l urge you to key into the ongoing MAP scheme; all is to eliminate estimated billing and bridge the metering gap,” she added.

“The more customers that participate in the scheme, the better our chances of metering all customers.”

 The EKEDC boss said the company had bought over 120,000 transformers to improve supply and had commenced installation.

On his part, Femi Bakare, former secretary general of Itire/lkate community development area, commended EKEDC’s prompt response to faults and customer service.

Bakare said the problems confronting electricity customers were enormous, but the meeting created an avenue for peaceful discussion and how they could be addressed.