The Federal Government, in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria, has announced plans to support the domestic production of four million prepaid meters.
This is contained in the ‘2022 Market Competition Report’ published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.
At the same time, the Federal Government has secured a loan of N120 billion from the World Bank to acquire 1.25 million prepaid meters at a reduced consumer price.
According to the report, this project will be funded by the FG and CBN after the successful completion of Phase 0 of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP)
However, the report did not disclose the allocated budget for this initiative.
The report stated:
The NMMP constitutes a critical component of the Federal Government’s ongoing initiative to reduce Nigeria’s metering deficit and provide relief from the service-reflective tariff for electricity consumers in the country.
Reacting to the government’s gesture, Akin Taiwo, an Energy analyst, told TimesNow.com.ng via a telephone interview that even though giving four million more homes access to electricity is commendable, it still would not make much difference, given the gap that exists.
He said:
The power sector regulator further clarified that the meter acquisition fund, established in alignment with the December 2022 Tariff Order, is designed to alleviate the risk associated with financing outside the electricity market.
As outlined in the report, the fund will be under the centralized administration of a Fund Manager sanctioned by the Commission.
Its primary purpose will be to serve as a form of securitization, enabling long-term financing for the accelerated deployment of meters to expeditiously close the metering gap among end-users within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
It added:
During Phase 0 of the metering program, initiated in October 2020, the federal government successfully deployed approximately 900,000 complimentary prepaid meters to electricity customers, falling just short of the 1 million target.
Phase 1 of the program, as outlined by NERC, is set to provide metering solutions to around 6 million electricity consumers.
Significantly, gaining access to meters has remained a substantial challenge in Nigeria for an extended period, exacerbated further by the rising cost of prepaid meters subsequent to the Nigerian Power Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) approval.
In related news, TimesNow.com.ng reported that the NERC has issued an advisory to all prepaid meter users in Nigeria, urging them to update their meters before November 24, 2024.
This notice was conveyed to prepaid meter users through NERC’s official Twitter account on Tuesday, August 22, 2023, and emphasized the importance of adhering to the deadline.
NERC explained that the updating process would involve electricity consumers receiving two complimentary key change tokens from their respective electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to facilitate the necessary updates.
