The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), on Monday said it has approved the installation of 4 million free meters under the first phase of the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
NERC said this in a statement on Monday, November 15, 2021, that during phase zero, over 900,000 free meters were installed for electricity consumers.
The power sector regulator had last week approved a review in the cost of single-phase and three-phase meters which took effect on Monday.
The Commission clarified that the prices were the maximum that Meter Asset Providers (MAP) can charge for meters, another metering programme.
To give more free meters to consumers, NERC in the latest statement said, “We are pleased to inform electricity consumers that the next phase under which about four million (4m) units of meters would be procured from local meter manufacturers has commenced.
“We once again state that, under this National Mass Metering Programme, consumers would NOT be required to pay directly for the meters.”
It said pending the procurement and installation process; “consumers may elect to acquire a meter immediately from MAPs.
“The regulatory framework approved by the Commission under the MAP/NMMP Regulations provide for the refund of the cost of the meter through energy credits to the customer at the time of vending.
“The recently issued notice by the Commission on the adjusted cost of maters is designed to protect consumers from arbitrary pricing by only MAP in the context of recent changes in macroeconomic parameters affecting the cost of the production,” it noted.
NERC lamented that installation has been slow due to inadequate personnel. “Although we have more than 600,000 delivered to the distribution companies, installations are lagging behind the deliveries.”
“The challenges we saw were with the trained personnel for the installation. Many of the providers have had to hire more personnel, they have never installed this much meters in this amount of time and then with Covid-19, there were some supply constraints as well but then we’ve gotten past those.” he said.
