“Discos Yet to Distribute Meters to 2.9million Households” – NERC

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has revealed that 11 Electricity Distribution Companies (AEDC) in Nigeria are yet to meter about 2.9 million households since they began operating the network on November 1, 2013

The regulator made this disclosure in a statement on Tuesday, April 19,  in Abuja while meeting with the DisCos to evaluate their performance on the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Initiative (CAPMI).

According to the Statistics, of the 403,255 meters procured since 2013, customers financed the installation of 251,531 meters which is about 100,000 higher than what the DisCos have procured as at March this year.

Although the companies signed a pact with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and NERC to close the three million metering gap over two years ago, they have failed to reach even 200,000 .

Data submitted by the 11 DisCos to NERC indicates that there are 6.159million customers’ accounts as at December last year with 3.206miilon metered. The other 2.953million customers have remained unmetered thereby raising the concerns on the estimated billing system.

While Northern DisCos including Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano and Yola claimed to have 1.973million customer base; Port Harcourt, Benin and Enugu Discos have 1,863,708 customers. In the west, Eko, Ikeja and Ibadan Discos have 2,322,376 customer accounts.

The acting Chairman of NERC,  Anthony Akah said there are plans to wind up the CAPMI and urged the DisCos key into it as it was neglected in the past.

“It is criminal for DisCo who have not metered consumers under CAPMI since November 2013. Do it now before we conclude our investigations,” Akah warned the operators.