Minister: Buhari has ordered installation of 6m prepaid meters by June

Goddy Jedy-Agba, minister of state for power, says President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered that six million prepaid meters be installed across the country by June.

Speaking on Friday after inspecting the meter testing facility of the Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) in Enugu, the minister stated that the agency is mandated to ensure that meters imported into the country meet the expected standard.

Recent data released, in February, by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) indicates that only 4,425,628 out of 11.8 million registered customers had been metered as of September 2020.

”I came to inspect what is going on and to know the position regarding the meter testing facilities we are going to have here in Enugu,” NAN quoted the minister to have said.

”I came also to see what has been done and the preparation toward commissioning of the office and I am satisfied with the plans so far.

”We import meters and our facilities here will be used to test the meters to ensure that they meet what Nigerians require. It is after the testing and satisfying our standards that the meter will be installed.

”This is an agency that is responsible for installation and the president has given them the mandate that 6,000,000 meters must be installed by the end of June.”

The NERC had stated its plans to review the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme as the deployment of prepaid meters to Nigerian homes suffers a setback.

Despite the myriad of regulations put in place by different administrations over the years, most Nigerians have been on estimated billing, which is believed to be a means by the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to allegedly rip off customers.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated in view of new information that the president directed the installation of six million prepaid meters by June — not 36 million.