The Federal Government has allocated N21 billion for the Presidential Metering Initiative, which aims to eliminate the country’s metering gap by giving free meters to unmetered electricity users.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission issued an order on Friday titled “Order on the Operationalisation of ‘Tranche A’ of the Meter Acquisition Fund” (NERC/2024/072), according to The Punch.
The commission claimed that the use of funding from the Meter Acquisition Fund program would speed up the deployment of meters and close the existing metering gap.
It further stated that this will help electricity distribution providers reduce commercial and collection losses, improve service quality, and increase customer happiness.
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 are 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 that the fund was divided and assigned 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 commission further said, “This order shall become effective on June 13, 2024, and may be amended or revoked by subsequent orders issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission.”
To assure power consumer metering, NERC implemented the Meter Asset Provider Regulations in 2018, followed by the Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations in 2021.
The regulation allowed numerous choices for metering subscribers but the interventions, while considerable, did not result in the closure of the national metering gap, which now stands at more than seven million subscribers.
The inability of distribution companies to obtain funding in the form of debt or extra equity has been cited as a major impediment to the acquisition and deployment of end-use meters and other capital investments.
The Meter Acquisition Fund scheme was thus developed and approved by the commission, primarily to address the issue of Disco credit worthiness, which was impeding the deployment of end-use meters in NESI, by creating a credible revenue stream from market funds based on which utilities could secure long-term financing.
The funds, according to NERC, shall be under the management of the fund manager based on terms and conditions negotiated by the Discos and approved by the commission.
The Federal Government approved the Presidential Metering Initiative, which aims to overcome the NESI’s metering deficit within three years by employing smart metering technologies for data analytics.
The commission also approved the deregulation of meter prices under the MAP plan in order NERC/2024/040, which will enable efficient meter pricing while responding more swiftly to changes in macroeconomic parameters.
