By Nefishetu Yakubu
The Management of the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) says it is continuing with the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme to eliminate estimated billing.
Mr Ibe Odoh, the BEDC Corporate Affairs Officer told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Wednesday, that the elimination would be in its coverage areas of Edo, Delta, Ekiti and Ondo.
Odoh said that the continuation of MAP was to bridge the metering gap in the company’s operation areas.
He also said the effort was to ensure accurate and transparent billing, better energy management and energy accounting.
“The management came up with the continuation of MAP because the phase zero of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) which is the pilot phase has ended.
“But the National Electricity Regulatory Commission has announced that the phase one of NMMP will commence soon where about four million meters will be installed for free.
“While we wait for the next phase, MAP scheme will continue in our coverage areas.
“So, anybody who wants meter and cannot wait for NMMP which is free can come and pay for meter under MAP scheme,’’ Odoh explained.
The spokesperson said that meter under MAP scheme would be 100 per cent upfront payment and the money would be refunded through energy credit within a period of time.
“MAP will run concurrently with the NMMP once it begins. This is to close the metering gap and eliminate estimated billing,” he said.
Odoh said that an online platform had been created by BEDC where customers could complete registration form at www.bedcpower.com to get a generated application number and metered under MAP.
According to him, the current price for a single-phase meter is N63,061 while three-phase meter is N117,910
Odoh noted that under phase zero of NMMP, a total of number of 90,870 meters were allocated to BEDC out of which Edo got 40,995, Delta 22,245, Ondo 19,450 and Ekiti 8,270.
He called on customers to always report cases of estimated billing through BEDC customer complaints channels for them to be addressed.
(NAN)
