Prepaid meters distribution up by two per cent, says NBS

• Six Discos disappointed customers in Q2
The number of electricity consumers that use prepaid meters increased by 1.59 per cent in the second quarter (Q2) of 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed.

According to the NBS data, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 1.59 per cent represented 1.62 million customers in Q2 2018 from 1.59 million customers in Q1.

Benin Distribution Company (Disco) that metered 282,868 customers led the pack. It is closely followed by Abuja with 270,918 and Ibadan 254,261.

With 37,329, Yola Disco recorded the least number of customers metered, closely followed by Jos with 54,395 and Kano with 65,060.

But consumers told The Guardian that the report did not depict reality.

Meanwhile six Discos failed to meter their customers in the Q2, thus not making efforts to address the estimated billing system, which consumers describe as “crazy”.

The Discos affected are Benin, Ibadan, Ikeja, Port Harcourt, Yola and Eko, which recorded zero prepaid meter installations from March end 2018 to June end 2018.

This was contained in the NBS report on the power sector for Q2.

Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, recently said that Discos had failed to take responsibility of providing meters to their customers.

He maintained the Discos still had the responsibility of providing meters to customers as opposed to the position of Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, the umbrella body of Discos in the country.

According to him, the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) Regulations, unveiled by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in March this year, did not completely remove the responsibility of providing meters from the Discos.