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The Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company says it has already provided Maximum Demand Customers (MD) under its operational area with prepaid metres to ensure accuracy in billing system.

This is contained in a statement issued by the company’s Head of Corporate Communication, Mr Abdulazeez Abdullahi, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Kaduna.

Abdullahi said that the company gave the statement to clarify on the recent directive of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

NAN recalls that NERC had directed customers not to honour estimated bills submitted to them by the distribution companies if metres were not provided.

However, Abdullahi said tha, the directive only affected Maximum Demand (MD) customers, who were largely industrial and other high premium electricity users.

He said the commission had earlier directed that all electricity distributors should provide metres to their MD customers.

“Kaduna Electric had metered all its Maximum Demand customers even before the expiration of the NERC deadline.

“The Company is also making concerted effort to ensure that all non-Maximum Demand customers are metered,” Abdullahi said.

NAN recalls that company had late last year inaugurated a five-year metering plan to deploy 500,000 smart metres in its franchise area.

The company had said it would provide an average of 100,000 metres to Kaduna, Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara states every year for five years.

“The integrity of bills submitted to all our MD customers are not in any doubt and we always try to be fair and transparent when billing the unmetered non-MD customers,” he said.

(NAN)