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Nigeria requires N289.86bn to meter 6,456,275 energy consumers, says study

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Nigerian economy currently requires between N289.86bn and N534.93bn in order to provide electricity meters for the 6,456,275 unmetered power users across the country, research findings have revealed.

The industry stakeholders have stressed that there must be alignments and coordination among operators for equipment improvement projects being executed in the sector to be achieved in the country, according to The Punch.

It was learnt that latest figures of unmetered consumers in the energy sector of the nation’s economy, based on data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), indicated that 6,456,275 electricity consumers have yet to be metered.

Earlier, report stated that power consumers would pay more for prepayment meters as the NERC had approved a hike in the prices of meters, according to report.

Prepayment electricity meters

According to the regulatory agency, NERC hiked the cost of a three-phase meter from N67,055.85 to N82,855.19, whereas it increased the cost of a single-phase meter from N36,991.50 to N44,896.17.

Findings showed that for three phase meters, a total of N534.93billion would be required to meter the 6,456,275 unmetered electricity users across the country.

Likewise, a total of N289.86bn would be required to meter the same number of consumers if single phase meters are to be deployed to nationwide.

By implication, the minimum amount currently required to provide meters for unmetered electricity users in Nigeria is N289.86billion.

Meanwhile, the NERC has established another set of operators in the sector known as Meter Asset Providers (MAP) to work with electricity distribution companies (DisCos) for the provision of meters.

Nonetheless, this arrangement, according to report, is yet to record much impact, as power distributors urged operators in the sector to work in alliance and be coordinated in order to address the equipment development gaps in the business.

“The metering gap for end-use customers is still a key challenge in the industry.

“The records of the commission indicate that, of the 10,374,597 registered electricity customers, only 3,918,322 have been metered as at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019,” stated NERC.

It is recalled that the Commission recently revealed that over 62 percent of registered power consumers were still on estimated billing, which had contributed to consumer apathy in respect of payment for electricity.

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