The Federal Government has approved N21bn under the Presidential Metering Initiative to close the country’s metering gap by providing meters to unmetered power users at no cost.
That was announced in an order by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Friday with the number – NERC/2024/072, titled “Order on the Operationalisation of ‘Tranche A’ of the Meter Acquisition Fund”.
The commission stated that the deployment of funds under the Meter Acquisition Fund scheme would accelerate the deployment of meters and close the current metering gap.
It added that this would help in reducing commercial and collection losses to power distribution companies, enhancing the quality of service, and improving customer satisfaction.
“The funds accrued as of the April 2024 market settlement cycle and available for procurement of meters under the first tranche of the MAF scheme is in the sum of NGN21,864,851,725.
The commission hereby approves the use of a sum of NGN21,000,000,000 apportioned pro rata to contribution by the Discos as Tranche A of the MAF scheme,” NERC stated in the new order.
It said the fund was broken down and allocated to each Disco for the purchase of end-use customer meters.
“All the meters to be procured and installed under the MAF framework shall be at no cost to the customers of the Discos,” the power sector regulator noted.
The order provided that all prices of meters under the MAP scheme should be determined through a transparent and competitive bidding process by eligible MAPs.
“A competitive bidding process was held on May 21, 2024, based on the provisions of Order NERC/2024/040, where a total of 24 MAPs participated across the 12 Discos. A total of 44 bids were submitted for 10-meter specifications.
“While the NESI is expected to leverage on the revenue stream under the MAF framework to raise substantial capital funding for metering, there is an imperative to accelerate a closure of the metering gap for all customers currently classified under tariff Band A for revenue protection and facilitating demand side management for the affected customers,” NERC stated.