The management of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC) has cautioned its clients against making payments for the installation of prepaid metres.

It said customers within its network coverage in Bauchi, Gombe, Benue and Plateau should not make any form of payment for the installation as it was absolutely free of charge.

Nasir Faskari, the Metre Asset Provider (MAP) desk officer in the JEDC franchise area, stated this in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Jos.

Mr Faskari urged customers to report any of its personnel who asked for fees for the installation of the prepaid metre.

He further said the process of acquiring a metre with the company entailed the opening of an account to register the client’s details.

“The procedure for acquiring metres doesn’t exceed 24 hours, and it’s also free of charge.”

According to him, the client is meant to have the form filled, and stamped by a licensed electrical contractor who wired the house to certify that the wiring of the house or structure is up to standard.

He pointed out that after the acquisition of the account with the company, the client is to subscribe to the Metre Asset Provider (MAP), a programme initiated by the Federal Government for customers who want to acquire metres.

The officer said that a customer obtaining a single-phased metre would pay N88,000 only, while a customer acquiring a three-phased metre was expected to pay N154,000 only.

According to him, the company, in a bid to be more proactive, ensures that the customer gets the prepaid metre within three days after making payment as they are readily available.

He explained that the government had mandated the company to pay the customers for the metre, however, the company doesn’t give the clients the cash.

“We give the cash to customers in the form of free energy tokens once every month, the customer vends until the N88,000 or N 154,000 is exhausted.”

Mr Faskari stated that in the eventuality the metres and vending monitors purchased under the MAP scheme got spoilt from no fault of the customer and fell within the warranty period, the customer would have the metre or monitor replaced immediately at no cost.

The officer disclosed that the metres had a warranty of 10 to 12 years.

The MAP scheme commenced in April 2023 in Plateau.

(NAN)