Abdu-Bello Mohammed, the managing director of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC), says the company procured prepaid meters at N7.29 billion between August 2020 and April 2024.

Mr Mohammed stated this during a one-day information session organised by the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) with JEDC customers in Jos on Friday. 

The session with the theme, “Building Consumer Awareness and Strengthening the Customer Service Capacity of Electricity Distribution Companies”, was to interact and share information with customers. 

The MD explained that the procurement of the energy-measurement prepaid meters was to close the metering gap.

According to him, as of April 2024, the company had installed 249,897 prepaid metres across its franchise states.

He added that the JEDC had also invested N10 billion between 2021 and 2023 on network expansion and reinforcement as part of capital expenditures approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

Mr Mohammed expressed optimism that the company’s investments would ensure reliable and quality power supply within the franchise states.

He, however, lamented that despite the efforts being made, the company was currently bedevilled by some man-made challenges.

He identified some challenges as vandalism, energy theft and customer indebtedness.

“Between 2021 and the first quarter of 2024, we lost over 500 distribution transformers, AVM transformers, and several spans of aluminium conductors worth billions of naira to vandals.

“The activities of energy thieves have also cost the company a huge fortune,” he said.

The MD urged customers to assist the company in safeguarding its installations in their respective communities.

He implored customers to pay for consumed energy to enable the company to serve them better.

Earlier, Sunday Oduntan, executive director of research and advocacy, ANED, warned customers against indulging in energy theft.

(NAN)