… fund accrues from portion of revenue generated by DisCos since 2023

… 20 percent of Band A customers remain unmetered -NERC

… 7,420,742 electricity customers unmetered

Oredola Adeola

Eleven Nigerian electricity distribution companies (DisCos) are set to utilize N20 billion from their Metering Acquisition Fund (MAF) to provide prepaid meters to unmetered Band A customers by September 2024.

This decision is coming on the sideline of an imminent order from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), expected to be released later this week.

The information was exclusively obtained by Advisors Reports from a reliable source privy to NERC’s forthcoming order.

This follows a disclosure by Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, during the Business Day Energy Conference in Lagos last weekend.

As of April 2024, NERC’s factsheet on metering and customer service performance indicated that 7,420,742 out of 13,410,795 electricity customers were unmetered.

During the conference, Minister Adelabu announced that NERC Chairman Sanusi Garba had been authorized to utilize the fund for procuring prepaid meters for unmetered Band A customers by September.

Additionally, Chief Adelabu announced the launch of the government’s framework to inject a total of 11.5 million prepaid meters over the next five years to ensure accurate billing, reduce revenue loss, and improve cash flow for a more liquid power sector.

He stated that the government would inject 1.5 million meters into the power sector through the World Bank Distribution Support Recovery Program.

He assured that the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) will ensure an additional 2 million meters are procured annually for five years. This initiative aims to ensure accurate billing, reduce revenue loss, and improve cash flow in the power sector.

Meanwhile, the insider clarified to Advisors Reports that the fund discussed by the Minster and NERC Chairman is savings accumulated from the DisCos’ contributions.

The source therefore emphasised that this fund, sourced from a N0.75/kWh deduction from DisCos’ revenues, was specifically intended to close the metering gap among all electricity customers, not just those in Band A.

Confirming the existence of this fund, Advisors Reports’ further investigations showed that in 2023, NERC mandated a provision of N0.75/kWh from DisCos’ revenue for the MAF.

The fund is centrally managed and intended to securitize long-term financing to rapidly address the significant metering gap in Nigeria’s Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), currently estimated at over 60%.

Advisors Reports further gathered that following consultations with the Minister of Power, NERC has therefore resolved to give an order within the week for the disbursement of N20 billion to the eleven DisCos to provide prepaid meters to unmetered Band A customers, which includes residential and small commercial consumers.

Although NERC and the DisCos did not provide specific numbers of unmetered Band A customers, Dr. Musiliu Oseni, NERC Vice Chairman, disclosed in an April meeting with Civil Society and Community-Based Organizations that approximately 15 to 20 percent of Band A customers remain unmetered, emphasizing the need for this initiative.