An indigenous pre-paid meter manufacturing company, Sabrud Consortium, has appealed to the Federal Government to allow producers to sell pre-paid meters directly to electricity consumers.
This was made known by its Chairman, Bright Nwangwu, in Awka, during the company’s Mandatory Compliance and Assessment Programme (MANCAP) certificate for its product.
He argued that direct sale would go a long way in achieving the Federal Government’s objective to have all electricity consumers in Nigeria metered at the shortest possible time.
He said that the direct sale and distribution of pre-paid meters would increase efficiency in the power marketing and save customers from the nightmare of estimated billing.
He also said that this would be the best way to solve the estimated billing problem and relieve the distribution companies of the task.
According to Nwangwu, pre-paid meter producers had enough capacity to boost effectiveness in power distribution, adding that the permission given to private organisations to be producing meters marks a new dimension in the power sector, iwin reports.
“We appeal to the Federal Government to allow pre-paid meter manufacturing firms to sell directly to local customers.
“Pre-paid metering is a crime in advanced countries it should be discouraged here; selling directly to customers will eliminate the practice.
“We also call on the Federal Government to enforce the local content policy in the sector, which says that all government and private companies spend 80 per cent of their procured goods and services on indigenously manufactured meters,” he said.
The company’s Managing Director, Chisom Nwangwu, assured that the firm was determined to help the Federal Government to achieve efficiency in the power sector through international best practices.
He said that the firm, which had one million installed capacity and 40 per cent utilisation rate, alongside other manufacturers of the products, were capable of meeting the national customers’ demand and beyond.
