By Adedapo Adesanya
The federal government has targeted the full-scale metering of unmetered Band A electricity customers before the end of September 2024, the Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, said.
Mr Adelabu made this known while speaking as the lead speaker at the energy conference organised by Nigerian media publication, Business Day themed Powering Nigeria’s Energy Future: Addressing Infrastructural Challenges for Sustainable Energy Development in Lagos on Friday.
He said there was an accrued N20 billion for metering and a plan is in the works with stakeholders to procure meters for these customers.
Band A customers are those who receive 20-24 hours of electricity supply daily.
“We are releasing N20 billion for the electricity distribution companies to procure meters for the unmetered Band A customers before the end of September.”
“The government has put in place the required framework to enable an injection of 1.5 million meters into the power sector through the World Bank Distribution Support Recovery Program.
“The Presidential Metering Initiative will ensure an additional 2 million meters will be procured annually for 5 years. This will ensure accurate billing, reducing revenue loss and improving cash flow for a more liquid power sector,” Mr Adelabu added.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had estimated that the federal government would pay N1.6 trillion in electricity subsidy in the 2024 fiscal year.
The commission also announced new rates for Band A consumers that saw a jump from N68 per kilowatt-hour to a significant N225 kWh in April, citing that the newly approved tariffs will reduce subsidies for 2024 by about N1.14 trillion.
This development is to help cover the cost for more than seven million electricity customers that are unmetered in Nigeria.
The minister said most of the supply would be sourced from international providers like Chinese manufacturers, while a small quantity is expected to come from local manufacturers due to their limited capacity.
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[…] federal government had in June said it was going to ensure the full-scale metering of unmetered Band A electricity customers before the end of September […]