Plans by the Federal Government to implement a new power tariff may take effect in December and result in consumers paying more for electricity.
This follows the Federal Government’s announcement on Wednesday that it had begun the procurement of four million meters, which will be distributed free of charge to unmetered power users nationwide.
The federal government estimates unmetered electricity consumers in Nigeria to be in the region of about eight million, adding that over 860,000 meters were distributed for free to power users under phase zero of the National Mass Metering Programme.
BizWatch Nigeria gathered on Wednesday the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) would review the power tariffs by December, barring any unforeseen circumstance.
The Deputy General Manager, Consumer Affairs, NERC, Shittu Shuaibu, while speaking on the four million free meters being procured, called it the phase one of the NMMP, which had begun.
Shuaibu, speaking in a live radio programme in Abuja, disclosed that the Meter Asset Providers, in collaboration with the distribution companies, had been able to deploy about 860,000 meters under phase zero of the mass metering programme.
He said, “The programme is supposed to run in three phases which include phase zero, phase one and phase two. Phase zero was rounded up around the end of October. Phase one has actually commenced and it is another government intervention of about four million meters.
“So far we have deployed about 860,000 or close to 900,000 meters, which were part of the one million meters that was procured as part of government intervention. For the four million meters, the procurement process has commenced.”
He noted that the mass metering intervention was not a free offer as the government was providing loans for the delivery of these meters to Nigerians.
Shuaibu added that power distribution companies would be part of the loan process as they are expected to refund the loans over a period of 10 years at a very reasonable rate through the Central Bank of Nigeria.
