DisCos warehouse prepaid meters donated by FG

A month after taking delivery of one million meters under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), the electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) have warehoused 983,693 in their offices.

The 11 distribution companies were only able to distribute 16,308 prepaid meters as of November 2020, while electricity consumers were yearning for units amidst estimated billings.

This was contained in the latest figures from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) tagged: “Analysis of meter deployment across electricity distribution companies report for the month of November 2020.”

The report also said Enugu, Benin, Ibadan and Yola Discos with 372,624 meters had yet to begin deployment as of the time the data was released.

According to the data, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) was allotted 103,997; Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), 90,870; Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), 92,381 and Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC), 85,376 Abuja Disco, which had collected 101,186 units of the devices, installed 8,941 while Eko, with 79,178 fixed 52.

According to NERC data, Ikeja Electric received 106,701 but installed 24 devices while Jos fixed 345 out of 88,538 units allocated to it.
In addition, Kaduna only installed 117 out of 86,957 meters received while Kano fixed 11 out of its 87,747 units, Port Harcourt installed 6,818 out of its 77,070 devices.

In October, the Federal Government said it had commenced the distribution of six million free pre-paid electricity metres to Nigerians through the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), with the launch of the scheme in Eko, Kano, Kaduna and Ikeja Distribution Companies (DisCos) franchise areas. Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman, announced that President Muhammadu Buhari under the NMMP directed a mass-metering scheme for the power sector.

On the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) status contained in the data, it was revealed that while Benin with an allocation of 573,776 has fixed 10,148 in over three years, Yola has not done any metering during that period. Jos installed 3,939 out of a ration of 500,000 units in the three years.

Ikeja installed 165,081 out of 1.07 million meters under the scheme; Kaduna did just 7,418 out of 450,000 and Ibadan achieved 37, 714 out of 988,915 meters contracted to it.

Abuja installed 149,953 out of 900,000; Eko did 35,375 out of 204,000; Enugu installed 67,920 out of 621,545; Kano 3,154 out of 475,000 while Port Harcourt installed 28,110 out of 137,324.

Before the latest intervention, NERC had approved the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulation no. NERC/R/112), which became effective on April 3, 2018.

When the MAP regulation was issued in 2018, NERC stated that the electricity distribution companies, in line with their licensing terms and conditions, were obliged to achieve their metering targets as set by the commission under the new regulation.