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17,000 customers lack electricity meters in Benue

By on September 9, 2014

The Jos Electricity Distribution Company (Disco) has stated that over 17,000 of its customers in Makurdi, the Benue State capital are without electricity meters.

Benue State Director of the Jos Disco, Mr. Abraham Ochelle who disclosed this at the company’s maiden consumers’ consultative forum in Makurdi, said the huge metering gap was inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

The inability of new buyers of PHCN assets to provide functional meters to electricity consumers has resulted in increasing energy thefts and indiscriminate allocation of outrageous estimated bills by some of the distribution companies.

Ochelle expressed regrets that the lack of functional meters has made it difficult for the distribution company to effectively control and monitor power consumption in homes and businesses in the state.

However, he said the company has taken steps to address the terrible situation and has procured meters that would be distributed to its customers soon.

Ochelle said: “The good news is that the JED has taken the bold initiative of ensuring that all our customers are provided functional meters in order to ensure that the system is properly regulated and monitored and customers only pay for what they consume.”
“This is part of the reforms our company has introduced into the system to ensure that our customers are not exploited at any given time.”

Earlier, the Makurdi Business Manager of the distribution company, Mr. John Emeruwa disclosed that the company has initiated moves to avail electricity consumers new power transformers for installation in the state to augment the 620 in use currently.

Emeruwa pleaded for understanding on the part of consumers stressing that the privatisation of the power sector was yielding positive results with the steady increase in power supply in the state.

In his reaction, one of the customers, Mr. Lemon Atero, who lauded the efforts of the officials of the company in ensuring steady power supply in the state, stressed the need for the Disco to improve on its billing system in order to check extortion of its customers.

 

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