The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission reported that 185,439 meters were installed in the last quarter of 2024, a 0.19% increase from the 185,087 meters installed in Q3.
According to the commission’s report, the new installations raised the net end-user metering rate across all DisCos by 0.42 percentage points, from 46.15% in Q3 2024 to 46.57% in Q4 2024.
“During the quarter, 179,064 meters (96.56 per cent of the total installations) were installed under the Meter Asset Provider framework; 4,076 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund; 1,924 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework; and 374 meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework,” the report disclosed.
NERC reported that as of December 2024, Ibadan DisCo had 1.15 million metered customers out of 2.64 million, while Ikeja Electric had nearly 1 million metered customers out of 1.28 million. Abuja DisCo metered 911,000 out of 1.19 million customers, whereas Benin DisCo had 1.43 million customers but only 714 were metered.
Yola Disco has 823 customers, out of which 112 have prepaid meters as of December last year.
The commission expects DisCos to use all available frameworks under the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations, along with the MAF, to close their 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 on their respective feeders,” the report stated.
NERC emphasized that accurate customer enumeration and end-use metering are the most effective ways to improve energy accounting and revenue recovery.
In Q2 2024, the commission issued an order for the implementation of Tranche A of the Meter Acquisition Fund, directing DisCos to use the first tranche to procure and install meters for unmetered Band A customers within their franchise areas.
