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PHED, ECOBANK partner on prepaid meters

By on November 17, 2014

Determined to put an end to the complaints of overestimated billings, the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company and Ecobank have signed a memorandum of understanding through electricity consumers can finance the acquisition of prepaid metres.

The Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, which is known as PHED, covers Rivers, Cross River and Bayelsa States. The company assured that with the agreement between it and Ecobank, electricity consumers would purchase prepaid metres without stress. Singing the agreement for his company, PHED Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jon Abbas, explained that customers could get the prepaid metres under a new scheme known as Credited Advanced Payment for Metering Implementation.

Pointing out that the CAPMI scheme was established by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Abbas stated that only qualified electricity consumers could voluntarily benefit from the arrangement. Commending Ecobank for being part of the scheme, Abbas expressed worry that some electricity consumers were unwilling to pay for energy consumed, advising members of the public to shun such an act.

“People who are using energy do not understand the methodology. Now bringing this kind of innovation of CAPMI financing through Ecobank will help us remove the issue of estimated billing. “In this system, the people (customers) will have their prepaid metres and they can control their consumption. It is necessary that customers pay their bills on time to avoid inconveniences,” he added.

Describing Ecobank as a leading partner in service delivery to customers, Abbas noted the agreement between the bank and his company became necessary in order to achieve PHED’s objective of becoming a frontline utility firm in the country. Also, the Executive Director of Ecobank, South-South and South-East, Mr. Kingsley Umadia, described CAPMI Credit as a scheme designed to provide solution to the metering problem experienced by electricity consumers. Signing the MoU on behalf of Ecobank, Umadia pointed out that the bank decided to partner PHED in order to assist in developing of the power sector.

 

[Punch]