The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has denied reports in the media that its planned discontinuation of the obsolete standalone pre-paid meters in the South-East was a ploy to reintroduce estimated billing.
It assured its customers that it would not subject any of them in the obsolete standalone pre-paid meters in the South-East to estimated billing.
Head of Communication, EEDC, Mr. Emeka Ezeh, who gave the assurance in a statement issued in Enugu on Sunday explained that the move to replace the obsolete standalone pre-paid meters in Enugu, Anambra and Imo states was to ensure efficiency and better customer experience.
“The EEDC is denying the allegation that its discontinuation of the use of obsolete standalone pre-paid meters in its network and swapping it with the new smart pre-paid meters is a ploy to take the affected customers back to estimated billing.
“EEDC maintains that the migration exercise, which is principally for efficiency and better customer service, was necessitated by the recent upgrade of its billing system which has made it difficult to provide technical support for the few customers using the meters.
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“The management of EEDC reassures customers affected by the exercise that the company has no intention of taking them back to estimated billing; rather, the move is geared towards enhancing its service delivery and making customer experience even better.
“Customers, who have run out of credit on their meters, are encouraged to notify EEDC by visiting the customer service unit at the district office serving them for notification and further action.
“To ensure a smooth transition, EEDC has constituted several teams for each service centre to ensure timely migration of affected customers without subjecting them to any form of inconveniencies.
“The company also created a dedicated helpline (08150825367) to handle all concerns and enquiries associated with this exercise for efficient operations,’’ Ezeh said.
Ezeh said that to address the immediate financial burden on the affected customers, EEDC undertook to install the smart pre-paid meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme, without any down payment.
He explained that the repayment of the cost of the smart pre-paid meters will be spread over and up to 24 months.
“In the migration process, affected customers, who have run out of energy on their meters, will be connected to supply and not subjected to darkness while the smart pre-paid metering process is initiated.
“However, if for any reason, the new smart pre-paid meter cannot be installed immediately, the customer will be billed, using the average of the last three months consumption recorded on their obsolete standalone pre-paid meters, until the new meter is installed,” he stated.
