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 scheme 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 the
MAP scheme require payment by consumers before they are issued.
He, however, said that the amount paid by a customer to acquire a meter under the MAP scheme 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 the MAP scheme was currently
ongoing and customers who could not wait for the FG’s NMMP should key into the
MAP scheme, as he promised speedy metering for all applicants. He noted that
over 300,000 customers were metered under the first phase of the MAP scheme,
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, 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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