Receiving the protesters in EEDC headquarters, Enugu, its Head of Communication, Mr Emeka Ezeh, assured the protesting group that the management of the company would look into their articulated demands.
“EEDC is happy for the peaceful and matured way you have conducted yourselves so far; this shows how responsible our esteemed customers are.
“We also laud you for your concern to our collective resolve to continue to make electricity supply stable and regular for all our people,’’ he said.
Ezeh noted that the move to replace the obsolete standalone pre-paid meters in Enugu, Anambra and Imo states was basically for efficiency and better customer experience.
According to him, the move is also necessitated by the recent upgrade of EEDC’s billing system, which has made it increasingly difficult to provide technical support for the few customers, using the pre-paid meters.
He denied 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.
“This has made it difficult to provide technical support for the few customers using the standalone meters.
“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.’’
Ezeh explained that to address financial burden on the affected customers, EEDC undertook to install smart pre-paid meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme, without any down payment.
He added that repayment of the cost of the meters would be spread over 24 months.
Earlier, Acting Secretary of NUF, Mr Agodi Kanu, said that the group’s demands included that EEDC should discontinue with estimated billing after grace period officially granted by National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
NERC had granted the grace until this month for Industrial Consumers and end of March for Residential Consumers.
“EEDC should immediately discontinue with imposition of N39,000 for standalone meters and N78,000 for double meters to obtain new meters.
“Those currently without meters should be given certified integrity meters at `NO COST’ in line with Federal Government’s directive through NERC.
“EEDC new pre-paid meter is a fraud as it’s already calibrated to extort money from unsuspecting consumers.
“The new pre-paid meter to be installed for those on estimated billing now must pass integrity test.
“EEDC must respect the Consumer Right of Communication through letter before any disconnection as opposed to current gorilla disconnections that encourage extortion and exploitation.
“EEDC current explanation of calculating estimated billing is a glaring fraud as non-steady consumers are automatic victims of systematic impositions because the theory is flawed and baseless and must be jettisoned,’’ he said.
The NUF secretary said that the group was giving EEDC seven days to appropriately address the issues while urging EEDC to reverse its obnoxious and subterranean tactics of profiteering.
