An official of Ikeja Electric, James Timothy, has said that electric meters are free to their customers, in spite of the payment that several consumers make to acquire meters for their property.
Speaking at a virtual sensitisation meeting organised by IE for Youth leaders and stakeholders, on Friday, March 4, 2022, Timothy said that meters rolled out under both the Federal Government National Mass Metering Programme and Meter Asset Provider are free to consumers.
The official of IE Metering Project Team said that, while no payment is required at all for meters issued under the FG’s NMMP because all payments have been made by the Central Bank of Nigeria, meters issued under MAP require payment by consumers before they are issued.
He, however, said that the amount paid by a customer to acquire a meter under MAP is refunded to the customer in form of energy credit spread over the period of 36 months. “So, it is also free,” he said.
Timothy added that the phase zero of the FG’s NMMP is now completed with over 106,000 customers metered. He said IE now awaited the FG to release meters for the phase one of the programme.
He also said the phase two of MAP was currently ongoing and customers who could not wait for the FG’s NMMP should key into MAP, as he promised speedy metering for all applicants. He noted that over 300,000 customers were metered under the first phase of MAP, and several others were already being metered under the phase two.
Speaking on safety, a safety expert from IE, Aniefiok Etim, urged every customer to be safety conscious as they approached the rainy season.
He stated that many of the installations on the IE network were inherited and some were already weak and dilapidated. He noted that the weak installations could be easily impacted by the rain and cause electrocution if people conducted activities too close to them.
He also urged parents to ensure that electrical appliances were kept away from children to avoid electrocution at home as he advised customers to avoid overloading sockets in their homes.
Also speaking at the sensitisation meeting, the IE Manager of Media and Community Relations, Akinola Ayeni, charged stakeholders on the need to engage the communication channels of the company for customer complaints and other issues.
He decried the rate at which field officers were being harassed while on their duty and pleaded that customers should report issues via the communication channels, which were given out during the meeting, instead of resulting to assault or violence.
Responding to a question on safety, Ayeni said it was dangerous for people to conduct any activity, or build any property, around electric installations. He said, “People conducting any kind of activity or erecting any building must give a minimum distance of 5.5metres, on both sides, from 11kV and 33kV lines.
“A minimum distance of 15metres is required on both sides of a 132kV line; while a minimum of 25metres must be given, on both sides, from a 330kV line.”
According to him, the recommended distance would ensure safety in the event of fallen poles or snapped cables.
Other officials, including Ijeoma Ezeolisah, Edwin Agbo, and the IE Ikorodu Business Unit Public Relations Officer, Adebayo Dawodu, among others, were in attendance.
Ayeni thanked customers from the Ikorodu Business Unit, especially those from Igbogbo-Baiyeku Undertaking, for attending the meeting in large number.
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