Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company will begin the distribution of one million prepaid meters to consumers in Kaduna, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara on Friday.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kaduna Electric, Garba Haruna, revealed during an interactive session on Wednesday in Kaduna.
He said the project would be carried out over the next three years.
According to him, about 80,000 units of the metres would be installed between the end of October and January 2021.
“We are ready to roll out mass meters starting from Friday as the scheduled timetable for the installation of the prepaid metres is being developed.
“The company will be forced to withdraw its services from any community or consumer that may reject the installation of the new meters.
“We are coming up with a scheduled timetable that will indicate when this will happen from one community to the other because we cannot meter communities in four states in a day,” he said.
Haruna noted that the company had already connected thousands of communities, regretted that it was not getting enough revenue back.
“We are getting only 40 per cent payment in these already connected communities and that is not good for the business.
“In the next few months of this mass metering project, we are targeting 80, 000.
“We will increase the number to 500,000 and more in three years and at the end of the day, we may end up metering one million customers in three years because we have up to one million customers in our franchise states,” he said.
However, he cautioned consumers against making any kind of payment to individuals in the guise of purchasing equipment and urged them to report sharp practices.
“When you see anyone not paying or by-passing the meter, you must report just as the way you report when you don’t have supply because it will affect you at the end of the day.”
