It’ll take 20 years to close prepaid metering gap in Nigeria’s power sector—NERC
With only about 46 per cent of customers of distribution companies (Discos) being currently metered and only three Discos metering below 50 per cent of their customers, an Assistant General Manager, Networks and Engineering Standards at Nigeria Electricity Regulation commission (NERC), Engr. Tasiu Gidari-Wudil has hinted that it will take about 20 years to meter Nigerian electricity users.
Speaking at a workshop organized by the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Apapa branch with the theme: ‘Effective Metering in Nigeria: A Win-Win Approach’, Gidari-Wudil averred that “gap and losses were part of reasons for privatization of the power distribution sector, as customers were made to pay for meters by NEPA/PHCN without getting them”.
However, to achieve a win-win approach, NSE Vice President, Engr. Zedomi Tunde, said “both the distributor and consumer should understand that electricity is no longer a social entity that is for free and that the estimated bill, which has generated much controversy in Nigeria, must be looked into”.
“The methodology adopted by distribution companies to mount meters on the electric poles is not the best approach to resolve issue of electricity theft,” he noted, stressing that power distribution companies need to device a means to address the issue of metering.
