Amid Slow Access Rate, Discos Meter 115,767 Nigerians in 4 Months, Deficit Hits 7.24m

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Amid a painfully slow access rate, a THISDAY analysis of recent data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), spanning four months, has shown that only 115,767 electricity customers in Nigeria got metering devices between April and July.

Of the 13,293,739 registered electricity customers in the country, the data stated that as of July, just 6,053,497 homes and offices had been metered.

This therefore implies that over 7.24 million Nigerian electricity consumers still do not have the metering devices in their homes and workplaces, with the attendant opaque estimated billing practices by the electricity Distribution Companies (Discos).

The latest information released by NERC, the power sector regulator indicated that despite the huge number of Nigerians that have no access to meters, only 23,724 power users in Nigeria were supplied meters in April.

In May, 8,733 got meters; in June, only 12,854 were supplied the metering devices, while in July the figure rose markedly to 70,456, according to the data.

To underscore the enormity of the metering challenge in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), the NERC data further showed the highest number of customer complaints for the four months under consideration were meter-related.

Nigeria has had a prolonged inadequate metering challenge despite several but inconsistent efforts by the federal government to address the issue through some funding regulatory measures.

In recent times, some of the metering schemes include: the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP); the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme; the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) and most recently the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI).

Although under the law, Discos have the responsibility to install, maintain, and accurately read meters for billing end-use customers, but the electricity distributors have consistently complained of financing constraints.

Before now, the commission required that the installation by Discos after payment should not exceed 10 working days. But the rule is usually observed in the breach, with a number of Nigerians waiting for years to have their devices installed.

Metering all end-use customers by the Discos is expected not only to phase out estimated billing, but is expected to improve the accuracy of energy billing and revenue collection, which will have a positive ripple effect on the electricity value chain in Nigeria.

It will further inject much-needed liquidity into the sector to support infrastructure development.

“No matter what level of bypass you have from metering, in the end, metering is a key enabler to curb collection losses. Once you have metered, you can also invest in the intelligence to reduce infractions,” a former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, who is now Aba Power Chairman, said this month during a NERC meeting with investors/owners of Discos in Abuja.

But according to the NERC factsheets for the four months, in April the metering rate remained abysmally low at 44.67 per cent; it was 45.39 per cent in May; 45.43 per cent in June and 45.54 per cent in July.

During the period under review, Ikeja Disco consistently led the metering rate table with 73.13 per cent in April; 76.25 per cent in May; 76.64 per cent in June and 76.64 per cent in July.

Ikeja was followed by Abuja Disco, which had 61.19 per cent in April; 70.02 per cent in May; 70.17 per cent in June and 70.48 per cent in July.

In August, the federal government disclosed that to close the metering gap, along with the sub-nationals it had raised N100 billion for the procurement of prepaid electricity meters.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said this was under the Presidential Meter Initiative (PMI) programme, hinting that many customers were not paying their bills because they believed they were being cheated by the power distribution companies through estimated billing.

Explaining that metering would ensure transparency, Adelabu described the problem as self-inflicted, stressing that investment in metering will help solve a lot of the issues in the sector.

“In the PMI, we have made good progress in sourcing the fund for this, and it is going to be by a combination of the federal and state governments. Today, we have received and we have seen about N100 billion that will go into the procurement of meters,” the minister said.

Separately, he stated that the federal government was set to procure 3.5 million electricity meters by the end of the year to improve revenue for its cash-strapped power sector.

Adelabu stated that most of the supply would be sourced from international vendors, while a smaller quantity is expected to come from local manufacturers due to their limited capacity.