There is a likelihood that the Federal Government’s (FG) planned distribution of prepaid meters, which was scheduled to commence today (Monday, August 1, 2022), may suffer a setback.
According to a reliable source, who spoke on a condition of anonymity, the FG-funded Phase 1 of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) has no indication to commence today, citing that power distribution companies were yet to take delivery of the four million meters.
Why the free meters initiative may have suffered a setback
Recently, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) approached the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, where it sought the freezing of bank accounts belonging to 157 Meter Asset Providers (MAPs).
The financial regulator made this move, as it accused the MAPs of diverting funds meant for the procurement of prepaid meters.
“The CBN visited the DisCos to audit their books and see what they used the intervention funds given to them for. It was during the visits that it was discovered that some of the MAPs had failed to deliver enough meters for distribution.
“Before the NMMP commenced; what we were told by the MAPs was that they had enough local capacity to meet demands. But after the CBN signed the contract with them and disbursed money to them, they failed to meet their target. They saw free money,” a source was quoted as saying on the matter.
What you should know about the NMMP initiative
Established by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), in conjunction with the Presidential Power Task Force (PTFP), the initiative was floated to allow the CBN to fund the acquisition of meters on behalf of DisCos by paying directly to the MAPs.
The free metering programme commenced with Phase 0 where one million meters were supposed to have been distributed.
