Despite the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) which started in 2020, the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) introduced by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC) and has disbursed billions of Naira to the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) for the provision of  free meters to customers, as well as the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) plan and the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) for the procurement and free distribution of two million meters annually, there seems to be no end to the exploitation of power consumers by the DisCos.

 Most of those affected by this exploitation are those without pre-paid meters as their billing comes in the form of estimation. As of last December, according to statistics from NERC, only about 46.57 per cent (6.288 million) customers have meters, out of the 13.503 million registered electricity customers in the country based on data from the DisCos. What makes the situation unacceptable is that more than a trillion Naira has been spent by the federal government on various metering programmes that have achieved little or no results. Meanwhile, the Association of Meter Manufacturers of Nigeria (AMMON) has consistently decried outsourcing the supply of meters to foreign firms as antithetical to the ‘Nigeria First’ policy of the current administration.

 For several years across the nation, there has been a chorus of protests over estimated billing by the DisCos. Many homes that are barely supplied with power once a week are charged outrageous sums of money per month, in a billing that is not cost effective. In some cases, the difference in charges can be as high as 500 per cent within a short time, even when there is little or no improvement in electricity supply. So pervasive is the situation that the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) was once directed by NERC to refund money to some consumers who were excessively billed.

Last November, the NERC warned the DisCos against estimated billing regime and the antic of making access to reload energy credits difficult. NERC stated that it had been notified that the DisCos were instructing customers to apply and make payments for the replacement of spoilt and obsolete meters in their franchise areas. “This instruction contravenes the Commission’s Order on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry,” according to NERC. Evidently, the DisCos do not take the NERC seriously on the issue.

When in November 2013 the electricity distribution and power generation companies were handed over to some private operators at an elaborate ceremony, the hope was that daily blackouts and power outages would be reduced to the barest minimum, until they were gradually eased out. But it is now apparent that those hopes were largely misplaced. Today, consumers are paying more and getting less electric power. And now, they are demanding that the process of billing should be measured, transparent and efficient. They are also being ignored.

We understand that the demand for pre-paid metres far exceeds the supply, but we are also aware that local manufacturers seem ready for the growing demand as many consumers are ready to buy. The DisCos seem to be in no hurry to provide them while playing down the Meter Asset Provider regulation which expects them to address the metering gap on grounds of financial inability. But many have countered that the Discos are deliberate in their fitful supply of meters, even to those who want to buy – which indeed could encourage conservation of energy – because the ‘crazy’ estimation system pays them far more.

We hope that the authorities in the NERC will enforce their own regulations on estimated billing to protect power consumers in the country from continued exploitation by the DisCos.

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