The Federal Government, in collaboration with state governments, has successfully raised N100 billion to facilitate the procurement of prepaid electricity meters under the Presidential Meter Initiative.
According to The PUNCH, this was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, during a recent briefing in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.
Adelabu highlighted that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is actively working to bridge the metering gap in Nigeria through a series of targeted initiatives.
He noted that the widespread practice of estimated billing has led to customer dissatisfaction and payment evasion, as many consumers feel they are being unfairly charged by the power distribution companies.
The introduction of metering, he emphasized, is crucial for ensuring transparency and restoring consumer trust.
“Out of over the 12 million electricity customers we have in Nigeria, only a little over five million is metered. We have over seven million meter gap today, and these are self-inflicted problems,” Adelabu stated, underscoring the scale of the challenge.
To address this, he explained, “Mr President has set up what we call the Presidential Meter Initiative and established a Presidential Metering Council to tackle this issue. He appointed me as the chairman of this council, with the SA on Energy to Mr President serving as the council’s secretary. Our mandate is to procure and install a minimum of two million meters annually over the next five years.”
The minister also announced significant progress in securing funds for the PMI, with a combined effort from federal and state governments already yielding about N100 billion dedicated to meter procurement.
Additionally, Adelabu revealed that the World Bank has committed to supporting Nigeria’s metering efforts through the distribution sector recovery programme, with plans to provide nearly two million meters over the next two years.
He noted that $200 million out of the $500 million allocated to the DISREP, Distribution Sector Recovery Programme, fund would be used for meter procurement, with the process already at an advanced stage.
“In fact, for the World Bank, we have issued contract awards. It’s just for them to start bringing the meters from overseas and locally. Because of the capacity requirements, we cannot just depend on local patronage alone. We must bring it from other clients where it’s even cheaper. Even our assemblers are bringing the parts, which are the SKDs or the CKDs, (completely knocked down parts or semi-knocked down parts). Then we also encourage our local manufacturers,” he added, highlighting the blend of international and local sourcing strategies.
Adelabu further disclosed that the sale of meters has been liberalized, allowing power distribution companies to enable their customers to purchase meters directly from vendors, which is expected to expedite the metering process.
However, he acknowledged the impact of the fluctuating exchange rates on meter prices, noting, “The meter that was going for N80,000 before probably is about N120,000 now. That’s the reality. What now matters most is the funding of this.”
