CBN Bails Out Discos, Disburses N156.33bn To Boost Power

In order to boost electricity supply within the country, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) disbursed N156.33 power Distribution Companies (Discos).

The Apex bank also disbursed N36.04 billion to 17 Meter Asset Providers and 9 DisCos, for the procurement and installation of 657,562 electricity meters.

This was disclosed by the apex bank in its Monetary Policy Committee Communique.

Also, CBN, under its Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility-2 initiative, released N129.29 billion to 11 DisCos. The fund was to provide liquidity support and stimulate critical infrastructure investment needed to improve service delivery and collection efficiency.

The apex bank stated, “On the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), N36.04 billion was disbursed to 17 Meter Asset Providers, to nine (9) DisCos, for the procurement and installation of 657,562 electricity meters.

“On the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility – 2 (NEMSF-2), the CBN released N120.29 billion to 11 DisCos, to provide liquidity support and stimulate critical infrastructure investment needed to improve service delivery and collection efficiency.”

Recall that President Buhari had approved the implementation of national metering to close the metering gap, which is over 10 million and this comprises of unmetered customers as well as customers with obsolete meters that need to be replaced.

The purpose of the initiative was to increase Nigeria’s metering rate,thereby eliminating arbitrary estimated billing and strengthen the local meter value chain by increasing local meter manufacturing, assembly and deployment capacity that will boost Nigeria’s economic recovery by creating jobs in the local meter value chain.

Others are to reduce collection losses and increasing financial flows to achieve 100% market remittance obligations of the DisCos, and improve network monitoring capability and availability of data for market administration and investment decision making.