AEDC targets 100% metering to end estimated billing

The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company has said it is targeting 100 per cent metering of its customers as it intensifies efforts to eliminate estimated billing and improve customer service across its franchise area.

The company, which serves more than 1.2 million customers, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during the launch of its new digital platform, MyPower, designed to give customers easier access to electricity services.

The digital platform is designed to allow customers to manage their electricity accounts, make payments, lodge complaints and verify AEDC staff visiting their homes.

The metering target comes as the latest data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission shows that AEDC had already achieved an 81.38 per cent metering rate as of June 30, 2026.

According to NERC’s second-quarter 2026 report, AEDC had 1,403,657 active registered customers, of which 1,142,283 were metered, leaving 261,374 customers without meters.

The figure placed AEDC among the best-performing electricity distribution companies on metering, as the national metering rate stood at 61.51 per cent at the end of June. NERC said 7,743,839 of the 12,589,486 active registered customers across the country were metered as of June 30, 2026.

Speaking at the launch, the AEDC Managing Director, Chijioke Okwuokenye, said the company’s push for complete metering was part of a broader effort to improve customer satisfaction and give consumers a better understanding and control of their electricity usage.

He said the MyPower application was developed to make it easier for customers to manage their accounts, make payments, lodge complaints, and track the resolution of service issues without having to visit AEDC offices.

“This app brings our customers closer than before. This app was developed. It was driven by our continuous desire to satisfy customer needs. The app gives us all these answers to the customer. You cannot fix what you don’t know. And one of the things I’ve always struggled with personally and have been frustrated with is not understanding the customers.

“One of the ways we have decided to address this strategically is to understand the needs of our users. And once we start understanding those things, we will be able to collaboratively craft solutions to those problems.”

He said the platform would improve communication between AEDC and its customers and enable the company to understand complaints and respond to them more effectively.

“This app is a very big step into addressing customers’ problems. Another thing is to be able to engage because they don’t understand what the issues are and have an idea of when solutions will come. This app is a very great platform for that engagement, so you will see us improve in our interaction with customers. We would listen more now, and we will strive to meet those customers’ requirements.”

The launch came as AEDC said it would continue to expand its use of technology, with real-time monitoring of electricity consumption expected to be added to the platform.

The MD said, “The next experience we are looking at doing is, you can real-time monitor your power consumption using that. That is coming. And all those other things. So I urge our customers to watch out for their power consumption experience.”

He said the company’s long-term objective was to ensure that every customer on its network had a meter.

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“AEDC has the reach of over 1.2 million customers. We want everybody to be metered. We have various channels and various opportunities and options for customers to get metered. But the commitment is that we will drive closure of all metering gaps. We will ensure that we have 100 per cent metering coverage in our network.”

During a demonstration of the MyPower app, AEDC showed how customers could create accounts, verify their identity, link their electricity accounts, confirm their meter details, make payments and receive electricity tokens.

It also has a staff verification feature designed to address security concerns around personnel visiting customers’ homes. The AEDC MD said customers would be able to confirm the identity of staff before allowing them access to their premises.

He said, “We recognise the security issues we have, and because of that we have solved that with the staff verification that we have. This is who the person is. You can easily verify the person coming to your house.”

The Chief Information Officer of AEDC, Uche Anyalewechi, said the application was the result of broader digitisation efforts within the company rather than an isolated technology project.

He said the platform would eventually allow customers to monitor their feeders and determine whether a power outage was caused by problems on their feeder or other parts of the network.

“If you have the app, and by the time we’re able to update the web of the app, your power goes out in your house, and you just go to the app, and you see, ‘my feeder is gone,’ or ‘I don’t have power in my house,’” Anyalewechi said.

He said the web version currently offered more extensive functions, including access to statements of account, payment history and other customer services, but the company planned to gradually bring more of those functions to the mobile application.

On data protection, AEDC officials said the application had identity verification and Know Your Customer processes to prevent customers from accessing another person’s account.

The company said customers could report issues anonymously where necessary, while assuring users that their identities would be protected. The MD said the application was not primarily developed as a cost-cutting initiative but as a customer satisfaction tool.

“For me, it gives me the ability to quickly resolve customers’ issues, and that will most likely result in increased revenue and reduce customer apathy about paying rent because, for me, it satisfies organisations. The customers have clarity and understand how their bills are calculated and why they are paying what they are paying.

“I think they’ll be less resistant. So the purpose of this app is mainly customer satisfaction. It’s not a cost reduction initiative.”

AEDC’s Chief Finance Officer, Oluseyi Olanrewaju, said technology had become central to improving service delivery and strengthening interaction between the company and its customers.