Edo Unveils Plan to End Bulk Electricity Billing

The Edo State Government has commenced a statewide debulking exercise aimed at ending bulk electricity billing and transitioning electricity consumers to individual accounts and metering.

The State Commissioner for Power, Mr Paul Usenbo, disclosed this on Thursday at a stakeholders’ engagement in Benin, describing the initiative as a major step towards improving transparency, accountability and sustainability in electricity billing.

Usenbo said many communities were currently supplied and billed collectively, leaving individual households without separate customer accounts and meters.

He said the arrangement made it difficult to determine individual electricity consumption accurately and establish direct relationships between consumers and the Benin Electricity Distribution Company BEDC.

According to him, the exercise would involve the enumeration and validation of customers, creation of individual accounts and eventual deployment of meters to eligible consumers.

The commissioner said individual metering would give consumers greater visibility and control over their electricity consumption while ensuring that service providers were appropriately remunerated.

He said the success of the exercise would require cooperation among BEDC, community leaders, residents, local government councils, regulatory agencies and the Edo State Metering Programme.

Usenbo said the state government would coordinate the process, facilitate stakeholder engagement and help resolve issues within its mandate, while BEDC would be responsible for customer enumeration, validation and account creation.

He added that the Edo State Metering Programme, in partnership with private-sector operators, would provide eligible consumers and communities with access to the metering scheme.

The commissioner urged residents and community leaders to provide accurate information, participate in the enumeration process and raise legitimate concerns to ensure transparency.

He said the exercise would cover all 18 local government areas of the state, with the ultimate objective of establishing a more transparent and accountable electricity supply system.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Edo State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Mr Shittu Shaibu, urged electricity providers to ensure reliable service while calling on customers to allow their homes to be metered.

The Acting Chief Executive Officer of BEDC Subco, Mr Henry Dafe Onovwaka, said the company was ready to support communities willing to migrate from bulk billing to individual metering.

He also pledged that the company would provide the necessary prepaid meters to participating communities.