The new Managing Director MD and Chief Executive Officer, CEO (MD/CEO, of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Mr Deolu Ijose, on Wednesday said that only aggressive metering could curtail the menace of energy theft and estimated billing of customers by the different discos in the country.
Ijose, who stated this at a press conference organised to announce his assumption of office as the MD/CEO of BEDC, lamented that due to energy theft, the company had “more consumers than customers” because many consumers by-passed their metres, which ultimately resulted in losses to the company.
The new MD/CEO, who assumed office on March 16, 2023, disclosed that the Disco had mapped out a plan by which customers would pay for their prepaid metres and would be refunded in installments whenever they ended.
He reiterated the resolve of the new management to improve on power supply, pointing out that the current situation would improve as soon as there was an improvement in the quantity of energy the company received from the national grid.
Ijose lamented that while the Disco spent and average of N11 billion monthly to procure energy from the national grid, what the Disco got in terms of payments from customers amounted to only 60 percent of the investment, adding that there was the need to reorientation electricity consumers in the four franchise states of Edo Delta, Ekiti and Ondo States that “the BEDC is not a charity organisation and that we are no longer NEPA”.
“The menace of energy theft is real. This is why there is a need for collaborative efforts between the BEDC and the customers to address the issue. On our part, we are embarking on an aggressive metering programme to ensure that as many consumers are metered. To this end, we have a programme that allows customers to buy any type of metre and then get their refund each time they vend.
“Our metering programme is anchored on the ongoing enumeration of our customers’ assessments. The purpose of the enumeration is to ensure that every consumer of power has an account that is captured in our system for effective service rendition. We, therefore, everyone who consumes our energy to ensure that they are captured by our enumerators,” Ijose pleaded.
While reiterating that all the policies initiated by his predecessor, Dr Henry Ajagbawa, would not be jettisoned, the new BEDC boss disclosed that the Disco was ready to partner with the Edo government to get more power available to the people, adding the talks on that had reached advanced stages.
“Currently, the supply that we get from the national grid is grossly inadequate. To address the challenge of this inadequate supply, we are engaging various stakeholders to augment our grid supply through various forms of interventions like Embedded Generation, Mini-grid, Franchising, and other forms of partnership arrangements. In the coming months, our customers across our network will begin to experience improved power supply and longer hours of availability of power, resulting from these initiatives.
“The current management has the mandate to transform the Disco from its current level of performance to a high-performing Disco and we are putting in place measures geared toward making BEDC to be one of the foremost electricity distribution companies in the country. To achieve this, our priority shall be how to make our numerous customers happy by being a customer-centric organisation,” he assured.
While soliciting the cooperation of all stakeholders, Ijose expressed that “with all hands on deck, we can reach our destination of adequate power supply for all. Meanwhile, we continue to plead with our customers to pay their bills promptly”.
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