DisCos have metered 45% of electricity customers

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that 45 percent of customers have been provided meters by the electricity distribution companies (DisCos).

In the regulator’s third quarter report for 2018, it said metering gap for end-use customers still remains a key challenge facing the electricity industry as the records of the Commission indicate that, of the 8,310,408 registered electricity customers, only 3,704,302 (about 45%) have been metered as at the end of the third quarter of 2018.

“Thus, the majority of customers (~ 55%) are still on estimated billing thus contributing to customer apathy towards payment for electricity,” NERC said.

Metering is a key issue for electricity customers in Nigeria who accuse the DisCos of denying them meters so that they inflict fraudulent billings on them for electricity consumption. In third quarter of 2018, the eleven DisCos received a total of 128,791 complaints from consumers and metering and billing issues accounted for 68,749 or 53 percent of total complaints according to NERC.

However, the in comparison to the second quarter of 2018, the population of registered customers increased by 4.2% while the metered customers increased by a relatively higher proportion of 4.4%.

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NERC said the observed increase in registered customers was a consequence of the on-going enumeration exercise by DisCos, which has helped DisCos to properly register individuals who had previously consumed electricity through illegal connection to the networks.

It also found that only Abuja, Benin and Port Harcourt DisCos had metered more than 50% of their customers as at the end of September 2018.

The Commission said it is intensifying its monitoring of DisCos’ implementation of and compliance to the provisions of the MAP regulations in order to fast-track meter roll-out and close the metering gap in NESI within three (3) years.

While not rejecting the MAP regulation, the DisCos have adopted a wait and see attitude towards the regulation. Local meter manufacturers have said the DisCos have not kicked against the regulation but they have not exactly showed excitement.

Isaac Anyaogu

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States