The federal government and the 36 states have raised N100 billion for the procurement of prepaid electricity meters.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who disclosed this while addressing broadcasters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said this was under the Presidential Meter Initiative programme.
The minister said President Bola Tinubu’s administration has been making efforts to close the meter gap in Nigeria, adopting various initiatives.
He said metering was one of the initiatives which would ensure transparency, pointing out that many customers are not paying their bills because they believe they are being cheated by the power distribution companies through estimated billing.
Adelabu said only five million out of the over 12 million electricity customers in the country are metered.
Speaking about the efforts of the government to close the meter gap under the Presidential Meter Initiative, he said: “The mandate we have was to procure and install a minimum of two million meters on a yearly basis over the next five years.
“In the PMI, we have made good progress in sourcing the fund for this, and it is going to be by a combination of the federal and state governments. Today, we have received and we have seen about N100bn that will go into the procurement of meters.”
The minister added that the World Bank decided to support Nigeria with the procurement of almost two million meters in the next two years through the distribution sector recovery programme.
Adelabu disclosed that $200 million out of the $500 million DISREP fund would be used for meter procurement, saying this has reached an advanced stage.
He added that the sale of meters has been liberalised by allowing the DisCos to allow their customers to buy directly from the vendors.
The minister also acknowledged that the cost of meters has risen because of the exchange rates.
“The meter that was going for N80,000 before probably is about N120,000 now. That’s the reality. What now matters most is the funding of this,” he added.
