The sluggish progress of end-user metering by distribution companies (DisCos) may keep most consumers under arbitrary billing for another decade or more. This comes as all the DisCos, despite funding from the Federal Government and a deregulated metering scheme, were only able to meter only 542,738 customers in 2024, leaving the number of customers placed on estimated billing at a staggering 7.2 million.
In 2023, 609,585 customers were metered while the number dropped to 542,738 last year. In 2021 and 2022, 672,539 and 850,000 meters were installed respectively, putting average yearly installations at 668,715 units.
This means that, if metering continues to grow at this rate, it would take about 10 years and 10 months (approximately 11 years) to plug the 7.2 million gap.
This even excludes the new customers that would be onboarded going forward.
As of November 2024, DisCos along with their meter providers increased the cost of a single-phase meter to between N135,987.5 and N161,035, while a three-phase meter was pegged between N226,600 and N266,600.
With the increase, the average cost of a single-phase meter is N148,511, while the average cost of a three-phase meter is N246,600. At N197,555 average cost of a meter (drawing from the cost of both single and three-phase units), Nigerians may spend N1.4 trillion, at current pricing, in 13 years to plug the hole.
Quarterly reports of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) between January and December 2024 showed that all the DisCos are below par in the metering race.
Data from the NERC indicated that as of 31 December 2024, only 6,288,624 customers, representing 46.57 per cent of the total 13,503,342 registered electricity users, had been metered.This leaves over 7.2 million consumers vulnerable to what has long been criticised as an arbitrary and often exploitative system.
In November last year, the Federal Government received a $500 million credit from the World Bank to boost the financial and technical capacity of DisCos. The bulk of the fund was meant to be spent on metering.
In mid-2023, the World Bank had similarly launched a scheme to provide 1.2 million meters at $155 million. Another N21 billion was arranged under the Meter Asset Financing (MAF), which is being contributed by end-user tariff throw the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Besides, the Federal Government, under this administration, had allocated a total of N700 billion to the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), which is funded partly from the Federal Account Allocation and N59.3 billion under the National Mass Metering Programme.
AN analysis of quarterly metering trends in 2024 reveals significant fluctuations in installation rates. In the first quarter, DisCos installed 123,604 meters, marking a 7.31 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter. However, the modest growth was short-lived, as the number of new meters fell drastically to 49,188 in the second quarter, representing a steep 60.86 per cent decline.
The third quarter saw a reasonable resurgence, with installations rising sharply by 256.01 per cent to 184,507, nearly four times the second-quarter figure. The final quarter recorded a marginal increase of 0.19 per cent, with 185,439 meters installed, sustaining the momentum seen in the previous quarter.
However, the rate of metering in 2023 was still higher than in 2024. Ikeja, Ibadan and Abuja DisCos consistently recorded the highest number of meter installations throughout the year.
Metering efforts were not uniform across all DisCos, with some, such as Port Harcourt and Yola, experiencing sharp declines in deployment at various points. The inconsistency highlights the uneven progress in closing the metering gap across different regions, raising concerns about the operational efficiency and commitment of some DisCos to achieving universal metering.
With the sector suffering a significant liquidity burden with tariff and market shortfalls hovering around N2 trillion in 2024 alone, there is a positive correlation between improved metering rate and revenue collection efficiency across DisCos.
The metering efforts in 2024 were largely driven by the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework, which accounted for 96.56 per cent of installations in the fourth quarter. The newly introduced Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), designed to provide long-term financing for meter procurement, facilitated the installation of 4,076 meters in the same period.