ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reported that a total of 185,439 meters were installed in the last quarter of 2024, marking a 0.19 percent increase from the 185,087 meters installed in the third quarter of the year.
According to the commission’s report, the new installations raised the net end-user metering rate across all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) by +0.42 percentage points, from 46.15 percent in Q3 2024 to 46.57 percent in Q4 2024.
“During the quarter, 179,064 meters (96.56 percent of the total installations) were installed under the Meter Asset Provider framework; 4,076 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund; 1,924 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework; and 374 meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework,” the report disclosed.
NERC also provided updates on metering distribution among DisCos.
As of December 2024, the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company had metered 1.15 million customers out of its 2.64 million total customers. Ikeja Electric had close to one million metered customers out of 1.28 million customers.
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Abuja DisCo recorded 911,000 metered customers out of 1.19 million, while Benin DisCo had 1.43 million customers, with only 714 metered.
Yola DisCo had 823 customers, with just 112 using prepaid meters by the end of the year.
The commission emphasized the need for DisCos to leverage all available metering frameworks, including the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations, along with the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), to bridge the metering gap.
“As a safeguard for customers against exploitation due to the lack of meters, the commission has continued to issue monthly energy caps for all feeders in each Disco. This sets the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the respective month based on gross energy received by the Disco and consumption by metered customers on their respective feeders,” the report stated.
NERC reiterated that accurate customer enumeration and widespread meter installation remain the most effective ways to improve energy accounting and revenue recovery.
The commission also noted that it had issued an order in the second quarter of 2024 for the operationalization of Tranche A of the Meter Acquisition Fund.
The directive required DisCos to use the first tranche of MAF disbursement to procure and install meters for unmetered Band A customers within their service areas.
As of December 2024, DisCos had reportedly installed meters for more than 4,000 Band A customers under the MAF scheme.