Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
There are strong indications that electricity consumers in the country may be forced to pay more to purchase prepaid meters due to the rising costs of goods and services in the country.
Business Post gathered that one of the electricity distribution companies in Nigeria, Ikeja Electric Plc, has already announced the suspension of online payments for prepaid meters.
The company confirmed this development in a message sent to its customers within its coverage areas on Wednesday.
Ikeja Electric explained that it took this action because of the fluctuating foreign exchange (FX) rates at the forex market as well as the stubborn inflation, which has refused to slow down.
About two weeks ago, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that inflation in Nigeria for July 2023 increased by 24.08 per cent on a year-on-year basis from 22.79 per cent in June 2023.
As for the forex market, the Naira has failed to gain weight against the United States Dollar despite the unification of the rates by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
At the close of business on Tuesday, the Naira was traded at N775.34/$1 at the official window, N915/$1 at the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) segment, and N905/$1 at the parallel market.
The FX market in Nigeria has been constrained by a significant shortfall in the flow of forex into the country, especially due to low exports and a decline in the sale of crude oil, which the country has in abundance.
The twin forex crisis and rising inflation have put the Naira under pressure, further weakening its value and pushing the prices of goods and services higher.
This has taken its toll on several businesses, including importers of prepaid meters, who have to source FX from the black market.
DisCos in the country are already feeling the heat, and to cut down its losses, especially due to higher operational costs, Ikeja Electric has suspended the payments for prepaid meters via its online platforms.
In the message obtained by Business Post, the energy firm disclosed that this action would affect its metering process, though it promised to make efforts to resolve the issues.
“We apologize for the recent delay in metering due to low stock from our Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) caused by exchange rate and inflation challenges.
“As a result, online meter payments are temporarily suspended.
“We are actively working with our MAPs to swiftly resolve this and resume the metering process. Thank you for your understanding,” the message disclosed.
A senior staff of Ikeja Electric, who begged for anonymity, confided in this newspaper that customers may have to pay more for prepaid meters because the current prices are no longer sustainable.
At the moment, the single-phase prepaid meter sells at about N64,000, while the three-phase meter goes for about N120,000.
