The third quarter (Q3) 2024 report from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) disclosed that 53.85% of Nigeria’s registered electricity users are still unmetered, according to information released by the Federal Government.
NERC stated that: “As of 30th September 2024, 6,156,726 (46.15%) out of the 13,339,635 registered electricity customers across the twelve (12) DisCos were metered.”
The nation’s twelve (12) DisCos have 13,339,635 registered electricity users in total, of whom 7,182,909 are not yet metered, according to the NERC. This amounts to 53.85% of the nation’s electrical users.
NERC went on to state that: “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.
“All DisCos except Aba (-43.90%), Kaduna (-24.69%) and Jos (-9.31%) recorded improvements in the number of meter installations. Eko, Ibadan, Ikeja and Benin DisCos recorded the greatest improvements of +2,120%, +575.60%, +417.40%, and +389.32%, respectively, in the number of meter installations compared to 2024/Q2,” the Commission added.
The federal government has purchased 1.8 million meters to address the issue of projected billing countrywide, according to an announcement made by Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, in October 2024. The first batch was anticipated to arrive by December 2024, while the last batch is scheduled to arrive by the second quarter of 2025.
The Minister of Power went on to say: “The fund is already being raised to ensure that we procure a minimum of 3 million meters over the five years, at an annual average of 2 million meters per annum. Secondly, we have the support of our international development partner, the World Bank, to procure about 3.5 million meters within the next two to three years.
“Out of that, 1.8 million meters have already been procured. The contract has been signed and the payment has been made. We are expecting delivery of a part of this in the next two months, precisely December 2024.
“The balance will be delivered before the end of the second quarter of 2025. With this, we believe that the days of estimated billing are getting over gradually,” he added.
BrandSpur Nigeria news today reports that following complaints of certain electrical providers charging customers to update Unistar prepaid meters, NERC ordered distribution firms (DisCos) to replace outdated meters for their customers at no cost in November 2024.
However, as part of continuous efforts to restructure Nigeria’s electricity industry, the Presidency urged the Minister of Electricity to give the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) acceleration top priority in December 2024.
