World Bank spends 25m dollars on pre-paid meters

The World Bank will spend 25 million dollars on the installation of 125,000 pre-paid meters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Manager World bank project in PHCN, Mr Bayo Adeniyi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that already bids for the contract had been received.
``We have received the bids from contractors which we will evaluate and award the contracts as soon as possible,'' Adeniyi said.
He said the project would cover the FCT and the two satellite towns of Karu and Kubwa, while the mother company, the PHCN, would handle other parts of the country.
According to him, the World Bank's intervention in the pre-paid meter scheme is meant to assist PHCN to maximise its revenue generation.
He noted that the use of the old meter was fraught with heavy loss in revenue.
``The issue of illegal tempering of meter, by-passing of meter and illegal connection, will be a thing of the past,'' Adeniyi said.
He said the pre-paid meter would enable PHCN to maximise its revenue as all sources of revenue loss had been blocked.
Adeniyi said, tempering with the pre-paid meters would be difficult compared to the old metering system that was prone to manipulation.
He said tempering with the pre-paid meter will attract a fine of N50,000.
He said already the meters had been installed in places like Apo Legislative quarters, ministerial quarters and Warm Housing Estate.
The manager explained that the pre-paid meter project would be handled side-by-side with the distribution improvement project currently going-on.
He said the distribution project would include the provision of High Voltage Distribution System (VEDAS) transformer, with capacity for a cluster of five household.
``The project would halt the loss of energy at the distribution end, thereby enhancing revenue collections by the company, " he added.
He expressed hope that the new pre-paid meter project would take care of crazy or estimate bills from PHCN. .