NERC: FG Rakes In N4.4bn From Electricity Exports

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has stated that the Federal Government (FG) earned N4.4 billion from electricity exports within a period of three months.

NERC made this disclosure in its just-released first quarter 2022 report, as it revealed that the number of power consumers on estimated billing, who lack meters, has risen to over 7.8 million, from about 6 million in 2021.

“The huge metering gap for end-use customers is still a key challenge in the industry. It is estimated that of the 12,542,581 registered energy customers as of March 2022, only 4,740,114 (37.79%) have been metered,” the commission stated.

This implies that a total of 7,802,467 power users are without meters and receive estimated electricity bills.

“A total of 85,510 meters were installed in 2022/Q1 as compared to the 79,978 meters installed in 2021/Q4. At a macro level, quarterly meter installations have been reducing as a result of the winding down of the National Mass Metering Programme phase 0.

“By comparison, the net metering rate dropped from 45.40 per cent metering as at December 2021 to 37.79 per cent in March 2022. This can be explained by the constant updating of Discos (distribution companies) customer base information as a result of ongoing customer enumeration,” the NERC added.

Meanwhile, six million meters would be deployed nationwide in the first and second quarters of this year to reduce the number of unmetered electricity consumers in Nigeria.

The plan to reduce the number of unmetered electricity consumers in the country was made known in a December 2022 document on the review of the performance of the power sector/Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry under the current administration.

“We are perfecting plans for an additional six million meters under the second and third phases of the (NMMP) programme that will commence in the first and second quarters of 2023 respectively,” the Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, stated in the document.