- An indigenous prepaid meter company advises the federal government to allow producers to sell meters directly to electricity consumers
- The chairman of the company, Bright Nwangwu says the direct sale and distribution of prepaid meters would increase efficiency in the power marketing
- Nwangwu notes that it is the best way to solve the estimated billing problem
Sabrud Consortium, an indigenous prepaid meter manufacturing company, has advised the federal government to allow producers to sell prepaid meters directly to electricity consumers, The Nation reports.
NAIJ.com gathered that the chairman, Chief Bright Nwangwu who made the suggestion in Awka on Tuesday, December 19 said direct sale would go a long way in achieving the federal government’s objective to have all electricity consumers metered at the shortest possible time.
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The chartered engineer said the direct sale and distribution of prepaid meters would increase efficiency in the power marketing and save customers from the nightmare of estimated billing.
According to Nwangwu, prepaid meter producers have enough capacity to boost effectiveness in power distribution, adding that this would be the best way to solve the estimated billing problem and relieve the distribution companies of the task.
“We appeal to the Federal Government to allow prepaid meter manufacturing firms to sell directly to local customers.
“Prepaid metering is a crime in advanced countries it should be discouraged here; selling directly to customers will eliminate the practice.
“We also call on the Federal Government to enforce the local content policy in the sector which says that all government and private companies spend 80 per cent of their procured goods and services on indigenously manufactured meter,” he said.
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Earlier, NAIJ.com reported that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has declared that electricity consumers that were not provided with prepaid meters as at March 1 should stop paying electricity bills presented by DISCOs on the basis of estimated billing methodology.
The commission also ordered the DISCOs not to disconnect any such customer that refuses to pay the bills and further advised such customers to report to the commission if disconnected.
The NERC said the new directive is in line with its mandate of protecting the rights of customers.
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Source: Naija.ng
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Wednesday, 20 December 2017