THE Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that approximately 53.85 per cent of registered electricity customers across Nigeria remain unmetered.
NERC, an independent regulatory body saddled with the responsibility of regulating the electric power industry in the country, disclosed this in its 2024 third quarter (Q3) report.
According to NERC, 6,156,726, representing 46.15 per cent of 13,339,635 registered electricity customers have been metered as of September 30, 2024.
This means that 7,182,909 customers are yet to be metered, representing 53.85 per cent of unmetered electricity customers across the country.
It stated, “184,507 end-user customers were metered across all the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) with Ikeja, Ibadan, and Abuja DisCos recording the highest number of meter installations – they accounted for 25.45%, 21.48%, and 14.61% respectively, of the total installations.
“Relative to 2024/Q2 when 51,826 customers were metered, there was a +256.01% increase in the total number of customers metered in 2024/Q3.”
It pointed out that Eko, Ibadan, Ikeja and Benin DisCos recorded the greatest improvements of 2,120 per cent, 575.60 per cent, 417.40 per cent, and 389.32 per cent respectively in the number of meter installations compared to the second quarter of 2024.
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On the contrary, Aba, Kaduna, and Jos DisCos, recorded 43.90 per cent, Kaduna 24.69 per cent and Jos 9.31 per cent decline in the number of meter installations in the review quarter, respectively.
The huge gap of unmetered customers has been of concern despite penalties to get the DisCos to comply with its directives against capping estimated billing for electricity consumers.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has backed NERC for sanctioning erring DisCos infringing on the customers’ rights and had equally sought stronger sanctions for erring DisCos to deter future violations.
The ICIR reported that NERC had issued N10.51 billion in fines to all the DisCos following their non-compliance to cap estimated billing for unmetered customers in the country.
In February 2020, the ‘Order on Capping of Estimated Bills’ was issued and subsequently, a monthly energy cap for all DisCos, but the regulation has not been followed.
An energy cap is aimed at aligning the estimated bills for unmetered customers with the measured consumption of metered customers on the same supply feeder.
Meanwhile, in October 2024, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, announced the federal government plans to procure 1.8 million meters to address the issue of estimated billing nationwide with the first batch expected by December 2024, and the final batch to arrive by the second quarter of 2025.
He also hinted at the plans to procure a minimum of 3 million meters over the next five years, at an annual average of 2 million meters per annum and also the support of the World Bank to procure about 3.5 million meters within the next two to three years.
In November 2024, NERC directed the DisCos to replace obsolete meters for their customers at no cost following reports of some electricity companies requiring customers to pay to replace Unistar prepaid meters, even as President Bola Tinubu had called on the minister to prioritise the acceleration of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) as part of ongoing efforts to reform Nigeria’s power sector.