The eleven power distribution companies (Discos) in the Federal Republic of Nigeria installed 171,107 meters across their franchise area in the first quarter of 2023, a report by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has disclosed.
The report said 158,634 meters were supplied under MAP intervention while the remaining 9,931 meters were installed under the NMMP scheme.
“A total of 171,107 meters were installed in 2023/Q1, representing an increase of 6,495 installations (+3.95%) compared to the 164,612 meters installed in 2022/Q4,” a portion of the report sighted by energynewsafrica.com said.
Detailing the performance of various discos as far as metering is concerned, the report noted that Abuja Disco had metered 59 per cent of their customers while Benin and Eko Discos have metered 51 and 58 per cent of their customers respectively.
Enugu Disco metered 40 per cent of customers, Ibadan metered 42 per cent of customers, Ikeja metered 68 customers, Jos metered 33 per cent of customers, Kaduna metered 23 per cent, Kano metered 24 per cent of customers while Port Harcourt and Yola metered 40 and 19 per cent of their customers respectively.
The NERC said it expects DisCos to utilise any of the five meters financing mechanisms that have been provided in the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations (NERC – R – 113 –2021) to close their respective metering gaps.
“As a safeguard for customers against exploitation due to the lack of meters, the Commission has continued to issue monthly energy caps for all feeders in each DisCo.
“This sets the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the respective month based on gross energy received by the DisCo and the consumption by metered customers,” the Commission said.
Nigerians have been lamenting over estimated bills and accusing the Discos of fencing them.
Customer Complaints
The report noted that the DisCos cumulatively received 249,683 complaints from consumers in the first quarter of 2023.
Out of the figure, the Commission said 229,101 complaints were resolved, corresponding to a 91.76 per cent resolution rate which is similar to the 91.38 per cent recorded in 2022.
“Metering, billing and service interruption was the prevalent source of customer complaints, accounting for more than 79% of the total complaints during the quarter,” the NERC said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
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