Ikeja Electric checkmates extreme billing, commences smart metres test-run

There is hope to the end of extreme electricity billing within Ikeja, Lagos district as Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company plans to start test run of procured smart metres within the zone.
Under the two months of the pilot scheme starting in June 2015, the company will deploy about 2000 smart metres that will be installed in some selected areas within the district.
Abiodun Ajifowobaje, the CEO of the company, told journalists in Lagos that the success of the pilot scheme would lead to the eventual roll out of about 300,000 smart metres in a duration of three years, a development he believed would give a new customer experience in the power sector and enhance efficient energy usage and transparent billing in real time.
Ajifowobaje said the roll out represents a remarkable step in the company’s quest for redefining service delivery in the sector. “This development resonates with our new spirit, new drive and new energy identity, as we strive to create value for our customers”.
According to him, the new metering was a result of study which led to the advanced metre infrastructure.
“Ikeja Electric’s Advanced Metre Infrastructure (AMI) is a state-of-the-art technology that enables utilities to read, disconnect and connect metres remotely and to detect individual customer outages quickly using a wireless communications network. The metering project will replace today’s electric metres with ‘next generation’ electronic metre technology that improves customer service and enables customers to proactively manage their energy use and save money by participating in new programmes with time differentiated rates and demand response options”, he said.
According to Ajifowobaje, the scope of the metering project is to deploy approximately 276,084 electric metres for Ikeja Electric’s residential, commercial and industrial customers which will be implemented in phases across the network.