The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu says President Bola Tinubu has directed that all industries, businesses, homes, and institutions be metered within the next five years.
This was disclosed by the Minister when he visited the MBH Power, a meter factory in Mowe, Ogun State, according to The Punch.
According to Adelabu, Tinubu has ordered a five-year turnaround on the nation’s eight million metering deficit because he finds it unacceptable.
He noted that low liquidity has been identified by the government as a significant problem in the industry, with metering serving as the basis for this problem.
“Less than 50 per cent of electricity consumers nationwide are metered. And it’s been like that for so long. Mr President said we need to reverse this ugly trend and that we must ensure that we get every household, commodity, business, institution, and industry metered over the next four to five years.
“This is why we said the eight million metering gap must be reduced significantly in the short to mid-term and eliminated in the long term,” Adelabu stated.
He maintained that the Presidential Metering Initiative, overseen by the Presidential Metering Council, had been launched by his ministry with the goal of installing two million meters a year over the next four to five years.
Adelabu praised the management of MBH Power for partnering with the government to close the metering gap and give youths in Nigeria jobs.
“We are here to assess the volume of your local content and also to validate the number of jobs you have been able to create in Nigeria. I must tell you that I am highly impressed with what I saw on the ground.
“So thank you so much for taking an interest in Nigeria and supporting the government activities. I can promise you that the Ministry of Power and our agencies are going to work with you.,” Adelabu noted.
Meanwhile, the Director and Chief Operating Officer of MBH Power, Rakesh Mahapatra stated that the company is dedicated to working with the government as an integrated energy solutions provider to help close the metering gaps.
He emphasized that the company has a production capacity of 2,000 meters per day for a single phase and 500 meters per day for three phases with a single shift, with an annual production capacity of 920,000 meters, as part of its commitment to bridging the gap.
