The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) said it has commenced distribution of 104,0000 free meters in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The programme established under the Federal Government National Metering Scheme was instituted to ensure Nigerian households pay for what they consumed and not have to deal with estimated billing issues again.
The Federal Government disbursed payment for about 6 million meters but a total of one million meters are reportedly being rolled out in the first batch nationwide.
President Buhari has threatened to punish anyone found selling the meters, therefore, declared metering free nationwide.
Mr. Ayo Adio, the Head, Customers Support of IBEDC, on Wednesday also warned electricity consumers to desist from lobbying or cutting corners to get meters as such attempts would fail.
He said, “We are here to launch the National Mass Metering for the Federal Government. These are free meters; so, customers are not paying for it. The essence is to discourage estimated billing that a lot of customers have been complaining about. We believe that within few weeks, most of the customers that are designated for meters will have them installed in their premises.
“We have our distribution strategy so that it will not depend on ‘man know man’. It will be such that areas that have been designated will be metered as they are supplied.
“The customers that don’t have meters on the transformer will all fully be metered before we move to the next. You won’t have the opportunity of getting connected through any senior officer. It is an organised way of meeting our customers’ needs. There is nothing anybody can do to fast track it.
“This is the first batch of one million free meters. What we have for Ibadan Disco is 104,000. As we take delivery within the next few weeks, we will distribute to our customers.”
He added, “Under this system, it is not possible for any of our staff to be mischievous because we are going to keep track as we meter any customer. It will get everywhere. People just have to be patient.
“The strategy that we have employed is to look at a particular area and meter all the customers that are unmetered.
“Our focus is on people who don’t have meters. We can meter those with faulty meters. There is no point to change analogue meters that are not faulty.”
He added that the era of paying for meters is long gone, adding that those that have paid and are yet to be metered would be refunded through the conversion of their money to units.
