Ikeja Electric (IE) Plc said that it had metered only some 24,000 customers under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) of the federal government flagged off in October 2020.

Felix Ofulue, spokesman for the company, gave the figure at a news conference on Wednesday in Ikeja.

He said that 106,701 customers of the electricity distribution company had been scheduled to be installed with free prepaid meters under the phase zero of the NMMP.

Mr Ofolue blamed the present situation on the slow pace of registration by its unmetered customers for the NMMP.

According to him, only 57 per cent of customers have so far completed the mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) online application.

“The challenge we are having is that people are not going online to register. Only 57 per cent have done their KYC and some are even saying they don’t want meters.

“There is also the issue of separation of accounts by customers, which involves installation of their electrical connection to the required standard before they can be issued meters.

“Some of them have refused to do that and we cannot issue one meter for instance for five flats because it can easily get damaged.

“All those who are yet to register are enjoined to visit map.Ikejaelectric.com to complete their registration as soon as possible,” he said.

Mr Ofulue said that without their registration, the DisCo would not be able to get more allocation under the next phase of the programme.

He said that the plan to bridge the metering gap in the country had been given a boost with the $500 million funds from the World Bank.

The official advised customers to desist from attacking employees of the DisCo carrying out their official duties, warning that those involved would be prosecuted.

He urged the customers to help the DisCo to protect its electrical installations from vandals and energy thieves through its recently inaugurated whistleblower programme.

The government had on October 30, 2020, flagged off the NMMP.

The programme is aimed at closing the metering gap in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry to a set target by December 2021.

It will assist in reducing collection losses, while at the same time increasing financial flows to achieve 100 per cent market remittance obligation of the DisCos.

Objectives of the scheme also include the elimination of arbitrary estimated billing, improving network monitoring capability and provision of data for market administration and investment decision-making.