Court restrains EKEDC from operating parallel bank account on prepaid meter

A Federal High Court, Lagos has restrained Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) from further operating parallel account called “Eko Electricity Distribution Company Meter Account” number 2562128948 domiciled with ECOBANK Nigeria Plc .

The vacation judge, Justice Mohammed Yunusa issued the order after hearing the submissions of the applicants counsel, Wahab Shittu and Olawale Ajia.

The applicants are Momas Systems Nigeria Limited and Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company Limited (MEMMCOL) as first and second respondents respectively.

The motion ex -parte was filed against Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and ECOBANK Nigeria Plc ‎as first to third respondents respectively.

The applicants are claiming N2.050 billion as special damages and another N3 billion as general damages against the first and third respondents respectively.

Justice Yunusa also compelled EKEDC to direct electricity consumers in the area exclusively assigned to the applicants to pay fees for the supply and installation of meters into an Escrow CAPMI bank account controlled jointly by the applicants and the first respondent under the CAPMI Scheme called Momas/Eko Distribution CAPMI account number 5712006231 domiciled with third respondent (ECOBANK) .

The orders will subsist pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice brought against the respondents scheduled to commence on September 14, 2015.

In a 41 paragraph ‎affidavit deposed to by the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the applicants, Engineer Kola Balogun, averred that he was aware that the second respondent is an agency of the Federal government charged with the responsibility of regulating and monitoring the Nigerian electricity industry, issuance of licenses to market participants and ensuring compliance with market rules and guidelines.

He averred that sometime in May 2013, the 2nd respondent licensed the first and second applicants in the CAPMI Scheme, as Metering Service Providers (MSP) and also approved the participation of the companies as Metering System Vendor and as Metering System Manufacturer respectively.

He further stated that the CAPMI guidelines, the applicants applied, made huge deposits and furnished bank guarantees to the first respondents consequent upon which it assessed and appointed the first applicant as its contractor for both supply and installation of various types of meters specifically for Island Region comprising of six business districts viz Ijora, Ojo, FESTAC, Ibeju, Island and Apapa Districts under Eko Electricity Distribution Zone.