The Benin Electricity Distribution Company Plc says it has installed more than 25 per cent of the 90,870 meters targeted for customers under the first phase of the National Mass Metering Programme.

It said in a communiqué issued at the end of a Town Hall meeting titled ‘Facilitating metering and combating electricity theft in BEDC states’ organised recently by the Stakeholders Democracy Network for critical stakeholders in the electricity sector in Benin City, Edo State.

The communiqué stated that the company would remove estimated billing for unmetered customers in its four franchise states of Delta, Edo, Ekiti and Ondo over a period of six months as part of the NNMP.

It also noted joint efforts by communities to combat electricity theft in the BEDC coverage areas, adding that metering under NNMP was free and customers did not have to pay.

“BEDC is now installing meters on the pole for customers in Bands A, B and C, as the initial focus to curtail energy theft and meter bypass while the company has also begun community metering where transformers of over 600 communities have been metered so far,” the communiqué said.

The company warned that the BEDC and industry stakeholders could sue and be sued over electricity theft and breach of consumer rights.