Though the Federal Government has made several attempts to
ensure that more Nigerians acquire electricity meters, the latter faced one
major challenge: complex infrastructure to pay for their meters.
Another is the issue of funding, which prompted the Central
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide loans to the electricity distribution
companies and local meter manufacturers to ensure that maters are available.
But all these have changed with MOJEC International
Limited’s partnership with Ikeja Distribution Company (IKEDC) for the development of an automated payment reference
system with PayStack and Remita.
PayStack in its website says: “Give your customers the gift
of modern, frictionless, painless payments. Integrate Paystack once and let
your customers pay you, however, they want.”
It added: “We automatically route payments through the most
optimal channels, ensuring the highest transaction success rates in the
market.”
Remita makes secure payments to suppliers, vendors, staff
and other billers into their accounts in any bank or mobile wallets,
around-the-clock, including after official work hours, weekends and public
holidays, it says.
This payment reference systems adopted by MOJEC and IKEDC
enable their customers to initiate payment for their meters and complete the
transaction easily.
The journey so far
Findings have showed that metering electricity consumers has
remained a serious challenge in the
electricity market as utility companies struggle to fill the gap eight years
after the sector was handed over to private investors.
Data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission
(NERC) has shown that of the country’s 12.8 million customers, no fewer than 8.1 million of them are
unmetered.
NERC said only about 4.66 million end-users, representing 36
per cent of customers, had been fully metered at last November.
To solve this challenge, the Federal Government launched the
National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), an initiative geared towards mass
metering of Nigerians by providing loan facility from the CBN led by Godwin
Emefiele, to the DisCos for the procurement of meters for its customers, and
the local meter manufacturers.
This is to ensure that it provides over four million meters
as estimated billing encourages a lack of transparency and accountability,
worsening tariff collection.
Prior to this, distribution companies across the country had
stopped providing free meters to consumers, following a directive from the
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which increased the price of
the assets and contributed to the delay in the commencement of the NMMP.
In the first phase of the NMMP called Phase Zero, over one
million meters were estimated to be deployed in about six months, but the
process was delayed as prevailing challenges crippled the roll-out of the
assets. At the end of the phase, over a million meters were reportedly
distributed.
However, to tackle the problem in the second phase of the
National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), which continued to push the burden of
electricity meters on consumers, NERC announced the Meter Asset Provider (MAP)
and National Mass Metering Regulations.
To ensure that the Federal Government’plans to end the
metering challenges, MOJEC International, a pioneer in local meter
manufacturing, is ensuring that unmetered electricity consumers have access to
meters.
To achieve this, the company launched the Mobile Meter Asset
Provider (MOJEC Mobile MAP) initiative. The initiative was to simplify the
processes involved in meter acquisition and ensures that customers get metered
within 24 hours.
Group Managing Director, MOJEC International Limited, Ms.
Chantelle Abdul, in a statement, said the initiative was to bring meters to
consumers.
She reiterated MOJEC’s commitment to provide meters to the
end-users because metering is critical to
the consumers and the electricity providers. This commitment comprises
establishing trust between the consumers and the distribution companies. MOJEC
will also manufacturer over 100,000 meters for the business units under the
Ikeja DISCO for the Mobile MAP.
Launched in April, the Mobile MAP initiative, in partnership
with Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Ikeja Electricity
Distribution Company (IEDC) and Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company
(IBEDC), was to fast-track 24-hour meter delivery to through the MAP Initiative.
This is by extension a continuation of Phase 2 of the NERC
approved ‘MAP’ initiative, that has adopted as mantra “metering at your
doorstep” aimed at consolidating the rigorous meter installation that includes
KYC, survey, payment, acquisition and installation under 48 hours.
Team Lead, MOJEC, Titilope Oyelade, said during the launch
of the scheme at the Sango business unit in Ogun State recently, that the
Mobile MAP initiative would run for the next two months across the various
business units of the nine DisCos with whom the MOJEC partners.
She said each DisCo is expected to meter at least 100,000
customers under the initiative. Oyelade added that MOJEC initiated the Mobile
MAP scheme in response to calls by consumers who want pre-paid meters to save
them from the menace of estimated billings and other under-table dealings by
some unsrupulous staff members of the distribution firms.
She explained that the process of meter acquisition had been
so simplified that all customers needed to do was to register on their DisCo’s
website.
It was gathered that there would be over 10,000 meters
available monthly to customers at the
Sango Ota axis and that the exercise would be continuous as long as consumers
make demands for the meters.
The total number of meters
distributed in MAP Phase 2 is 96,552.
IBEDC Business Manager, Sango Unit, Olujide Odutuyo, said
the firm partnered MOJEC because of its desire to make pre-paid meters
available to consumers.
On his part, Michael Onuorah, head of Metering Projects,
MOJEC, said to deal with the challenge of extortion, MOJEC and Ikeja DisCo
developed the automated payment system.
“This promotes transparency and accountability. We believe
it will hasten the Federal Government’s mass metering agenda.”
Smart metering allows electricity consumers to manage their
consumption and eradicate outrageous estimated billing. It also beneûts
electricity distribution companies by providing revenue protection services,
detecting energy and bypass incidents, and issuing reports for events of
tampering.
Manager, Shomolu Business Unit, Ikeja Electric, Oluyemi Ayanga, said;
“Consumers are happy because they can manage what they are consuming in terms
of electricity for the month, and this would improve their level of trust. With
this, the customers are satisfied and when they are, I am also satisfied.” It
is worthy of note that MOJEC International, last year, partnered Sahara Foundation, Energy Training Centre and
Ikeja Electric to train several metering personnel through an end-user Metering
Capacity Building programme in Lagos.
The deal was part of efforts to improve and reinforce
competence in the industry.
According to MOJEC, this is consequential to enhancing performance.
It said this would lead to an increase in revenue
collection, which in turn, would bolster transmission and distribution capacity
in addition to significant capital expenditure improvements.