A total of 123,604 meters were installed for electricity customers in the country between January and March 2024, representing an increase of 8,423 installations or 7.31% compared to the 115,181 meters achieved in the previous quarter, Q4 of 2023.
According to the latest industry data by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the new installations marginally increased the net end-user metering rate in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) by 0.40 percentage points between 44.39% in December, 2023 and 44.79% in the Q1 of 2024.
A breakdown of the data showed that during the quarter, 114, 477 meters representing 92.62% of the total installations were installed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework while 14 meters were installed under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) framework.
In addition, the Vendor Financed framework accounted for 7,540 meter installations while 1,573 meter installations were recorded under the DisCo Financed framework.
The newly installed meters jacked up aggregate metered electricity customers in the country to 5,966,330 from 5,842,726 metered customer base in December 2023, when 7,319,846 other customers were billed on estimated billings.
The Commission expects DisCos to utilise a combination of the five meter financing frameworks that have been provided in the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations (NERC – R – 113 – 2021) to close their respective metering gaps.
As a safeguard for customers against exploitation due to the lack of meters, the Commission has continued to issue monthly energy caps for all feeders in each DisCo.
This sets the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the respective month based on gross energy received by the DisCo and consumption by metered customers.
NERC chairman, Sanusi Garba, had charged the DisCos’ investors and owners to close the metering gap in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to resolve the liquidity challenges bedevilling the sector.
According to him, the issue of liquidity will not be resolved unless adequate metering is first achieved.
Speaking recently in Lagos, Garba said: “We cannot overlook the value of metering in the value chain, and we will continue to focus on how to close the gap because customers do not want to pay on the basis of estimated bills.”
123,604 Electricity Customers Metered in 2024 Q1
