CBN disburses N156.33 billion to DisCos, others to boost power supply

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disbursed N156.33 billion to Distribution Companies (DisCos) to boost electricity supply in the country.

This was disclosed by the apex bank in its Monetary Policy Committee Communique on Tuesday.

According to the document, CBN disbursed N36.04 billion to 17 Meter Asset Providers and nine DisCos, for the procurement and installation of 657,562 electricity meters.

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Also, the apex bank, under its Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility-2 initiative, released N129.29 billion to 11 DisCos. The fund was to provide liquidity support and stimulate critical infrastructure investment needed to improve service delivery and collection efficiency.

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What the CBN is saying

The apex bank stated, “On the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), N36.04 billion was disbursed to 17 Meter Asset Providers, to nine (9) DisCos, for the procurement and installation of 657,562 electricity meters.

“On the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility – 2 (NEMSF-2), the CBN released N120.29 billion to 11 DisCos, to provide liquidity support and stimulate critical infrastructure investment needed to improve service delivery and collection efficiency.”

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Why it matters

• President Muhammadu Buhari approved the National Mass Metering Program (NMMP) implementation to close the metering gap, which is over 10 million and this comprises unmetered customers as well as customers with obsolete meters that need to be replaced.
• The objectives of the initiative are to increase Nigeria’s metering rate, elimination of arbitrary estimated billing, strengthen the local meter value chain by increasing local meter manufacturing, assembly and deployment capacity and support Nigeria’s economic recovery by creating jobs in the local meter value chain.
• Others are to reduce collection losses and increasing financial flows to achieve 100% market remittance obligations of the DisCos, and Improve network monitoring capability and availability of data for market administration and investment decision making.