By SUNDAY ABAH, Abuja
Consumers under the aegis of Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, NCPN, have expressed concern as to what is happening to the metering of electricity consumers across the country.
President of NCPC, Kunle Kola Olubiyo, who posted the confusion electricity consumers are into, sought to know whether the Meter Asset Provider, MAP, scheme and the National Mass Metering Programme, NMMP, both of which aimed to fast-track the closure of the wide metering gap, are still in force.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission had in April 2018 approved the Meter Asset Provider regulation that provides for the supply, installation and maintenance of end-user meters by other parties approved by the NERC.
The MAP metering programme gives customers the option of paying for a meter, while the money is refunded to them through the issuance of energy credit over a period of 36 months.
The regulation is expected to fast track a closure of the metering gap and encourages the development of independent and competitive meter services in the electricity industry.
On the other hand, The NMMP, under which meter is said to be provided free to consumers, is an initiative of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, in conjunction with the Presidential Power Task Force.
The initiative was launched in August 2020 to allow the CBN to fund the acquisition of meters on behalf of electricity distribution companies, DisCos, by paying directly to the meter providers. The free metering programme commenced with the Phase 0 where one million meters were said to have been distributed, following which a second phase of four million was to be done.
However, the programmes seem to be suffering from inactivity going by the silenced experienced on their implementation in the past months.
“What exactly is the state of things, Meter Asset Provider, MAP, or
National Mass Metering Programme, NMMP?” Olubiyo asked rhetorically.
“We are terribly confused
and disturbed, to say the least.
“There is a high level of
customer’s willingness to pay for the
meters, but they are not readily available for pick, even on cash and carry basis,” he added.
Only recently, the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Infrastructure, Ahmad Zakari while speaking life on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily hinted that the second phase of four million meters under the NMMP would commence before the end of the first quarter of 2023.
“President [Muhammadu] Buhari actually withheld some funding that was available from the World Bank for a short period of time to allow us to restructure the Discos and we have a World Bank facility that will fund another 1.25 million metres.
“So, what I would say is we know the gap when we started was about 9.8 million metres. One million has been done by the first phase of the National Mass Metering Programme.
“Another four million will be done by the second phase, which should commence shortly. Then another one million – funding has been secured and procurement will commence [later],” he said.
