The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has mandated eleven (11) electricity distribution companies to spend a total of N275 billion on electricity meters between 2024 and 2027.
This is according to the Multi-Year Tariff Order from the NERC to all discos across the country.
According to the NERC, each DisCo is meant to spend around N6.25 billion yearly on 65,000 electricity meters.
In total, the 11 electricity distribution companies are projected to spend N275 billion in providing meters to consumers across the country. The move is part of measures to end the practice of estimated billing. The figure will enable DisCos to distribute 2.86 million electricity meters within the period.
The decision follows a review of the estimated number of meters prescribed by the Distribution companies to provide meters to customers within their jurisdiction. However, the approved figure for distribution falls far below the projected figure from the DisCos.
Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF)
NERC also mandated the DisCos to provide N1.185/kWh to the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF). The Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) was set up to provide long-term financing to support the plans to close the current metering gap across the country. The fund will be centrally managed and provide security for the long-term financing.
Nigeria’s Meter Gap
The current Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu estimates the number of unmetered customers between 7 and 8 million across the country.
However, a PwC analysis put the number of unmetered customers at 38.91 million. The report hypothesized that around 50% of Nigeria’s installed meters are either obsolete or faulty representing 1.7 million customers, 4.09 million unmetered, and 33.1 million unconnected potential customers.
Given the estimates for the meter gap, the current five-year program of the NERC might not plug in the meter gap in the country.
According to the NERC 2023 Q3 report, the metering rate across all DisCos was 44.51% with Ikeja DisCo the highest at 72.0% metering rate while Yola DisCo recorded the lowest at 18%.
Of the 12.82 million customers, around 5.70 million customers were metered leaving 7.11 million consumers unmetered. This represents a metering gap rate of 55.49% as of September 30, 2023.
World Bank program for meter distribution
The World Bank had instituted a $500 million metering program of which $155 will be channelled towards providing meters for consumers while $345 million will be extended to DisCos to improve electricity supply.
However, there is controversy surrounding the program with the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) alleging the exclusion of local meter manufacturers in favour of foreign importers.