OpeOluwani Akintayo
31 August 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos – Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Eko Electricity Distribution Company Limited, EKEDC, Engr. Oladele Amoda, says the Credit Advanced Payment Metering Implementation scheme, CAPMI, would be coming back.
He made the assertion during an interview with SweetcrudeReports at his company’s headquarters at Marina, Lagos.
According to Amoda, the scheme, which was phased out last year due to the failure of electricity distribution companies or Discos to implement it efficiently, will return due to the high rate of liquidity loss in the sector.
He explained that the cost of metering is too high, making it more difficult for Discos to handle it alone, also citing customers’ inability to wait for their turn in the metering plan.
He maintained that the scheme will this time be more transparent and that there will be a ‘three-chain’ consisting of the customer, the Disco and the meter vendor/installer.
According to him, there will be no opportunity for exploitation and delay, as the customers will pay directly into a joint account managed by the Disco and meter vendor. And upon payment, customers will have their meters installed after 45 days, making the process more transparent, reliable and prompt.
“The scheme is coming back but this time around, it will no longer be between the customer and the Discos. A third party in form of the meter vendor will be involved. The customers will have to pay into an account managed by the Discos and vendors. And immediately they pay, the get their meters installed after 45 days. So there will be no complain from any quarter. It is going to be more transparent this time around,” he said.
The CAPMI scheme was initiated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to address the slow pace of customer metering by the 11 distribution companies, as well as high level of complaints received from customers and dissatisfaction with estimated billing system.
The scheme allows willing customers to pay the cost of the meter into a dedicated joint account managed by the Disco and meter vendors. Once payment has been effected, customers will have their meters installed within 45 days.
However, NERC recently asked for the scheme to be canceled due to constant complaints of exploitations and delays from electricity consumers.
NERC in a letter to the Discos, also said between November 2013 and June 2016, only about 500,000 meters were deployed by the 11 Discos within their networks with less than 35 percent of that directly done by the Discos. Thus, the scheme was suspended in November 2016.