By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has increased the prices of electricity meters.
According to the new increment, prices of single-phase meters, which were sold for N36,991, rose 21 percent and now cost N44,896.16, while a three-phase meter has been increased by 23 percent from N67,055 to N82,855.19.
The Chairman of NERC, Mr James Momoh, in a statement blamed the hike on the recent increase in foreign exchange.
“In arriving at the approved unit costs, the commission has considered the recent changes in foreign exchange approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the applicable rate available to importers of meter component or fully assembled meters through investors and exporters’ forex window,” he said.
Mr Momoh tied the new price hike to section 19 (d) of the Meter Assets Providers, MAPs regulation, which allows end-users to fully fund meter acquisition after which DisCos will pay back through electricity units.
The MAPs regulation was introduced by NERC after the utility companies failed to meet up with metering instead, preferred the use of estimated billing.
According to NERC, the metering gap for end-use customers is still a key challenge in the industry. The records of the commission indicate that, of the 10,374,597 registered electricity customers, only 3,918,322 (37.8 percent) have been metered at the end of the fourth quarter of 2019. As a result, 62.37 percent of the registered electricity customers are still on estimated billing.
As it stands, an increase in prices of meter will see even a slower pace of acquisition among electricity consumers who have been hit by low income and loss of jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Business Post had reported that the deadline for the metering of consumers was shifted from 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic lockdown which has affected the importation of meter parts.
With recent challenges due to the pandemic, the MAPs is expected to encounter major hiccups as it may be almost impossible for the masses to afford meters at this critical period.
