Victor Ezeja
The installation of meters by power distribution companies (DisCos) decreased by 60.86% in the second quarter of 2024.
This is according to the latest quarterly report by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe NERC report for the second quarter of 2024 released on Thursday, indicated a notable decline in the number of installed meters.
The report revealed that generally, only 5,993,340 (representing 45.43%) out of the 13,192,573 registered electricity customers across the 12 DisCos were metered as of 30th June 2024.
According to NERC, only 49,188 meters were installed during the period, marking a 60.86% decline from the 125,664 meters installed in the first quarter. It noted that Abuja, Ikeja and Aba DisCos recorded the highest number of meter installations accounting for 23.85%, 18.45% and 17.86% respectively.
“Relative to 2024/Q1, this translates to a -60.86% decrease in the total number of customers metered during the quarter (125,664),” it stated.
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A comparison of the record of meter installations by the DisCos for Q1 and Q2 2024 shows that only Kano (+138.19%) and Aba (+12.37%) recorded improvements in the number of meter installations. “All other DisCos recorded a decline in meter installations with Jos (-87.48%), Eko (-82.53%) and Ibadan (-77.19%) DisCos recording the biggest decline in the number of meters installed in 2024/Q2 compared to 2024/Q1,” the report revealed.
The report further stated that out of the 49,188 end-use customers metered in Q2 2024, 35,985 of customers representing 73.16% were metered under the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) framework, while 26.11% were metered under Vendor Financed framework, 0.54% metered under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) framework and 0.20% were metered under the DisCo Financed framework.
It said that the number of meter installations under MAP for Q2 2024 reflects a 68.46% decrease when compared to the 114,082 recorded in the previous quarter. Abuja (10,717), Ibadan (5,828) and Ikeja (5,732) DisCos recorded the highest number of installations under the MAP framework during the quarter with 29.78%, 16.20% and 15.93% of the total installations respectively.
The Commission emphasised the need to utilize the opportunity provided by those frameworks to close the metering gap and protect customers from potential exploitation resulting from absence of meters.
The number of unmetered customers, according to the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, is between seven and eight million nationwide.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
