NERC: Despite free meter deployment, over 6m customers still unmetered

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says the number of unmetered electricity users stood at 6.3 million in the second quarter of 2021, despite the mass deployment of meters by the federal government.

NERC disclosed this in its second quarter (Q2) report released on Monday.

The commission said the huge gap of unmetered customers in Nigeria posed major challenge to the power sector.

It showed that only a little above 40 percent of power users in Nigeria had been metered, meaning that the remaining customers would be receiving estimated bills.

“The huge metering gap for end-use customers is still a key challenge in the industry. The records of the commission indicate that of the 11,058,939 registered energy customers as at June 30, 2021, only 4,529,497 (40.95 percent) have been metered,” the report reads.

However, the commission stated that it had put in place a mechanism to prevent outrageous estimated billing of customers.

“Using averages (of) three-month consumptions of metered customers on each feeder, maximum allowed energy consumption estimates were computed for each customer category and tariff band,” NERC added.

“Thus, for each class of customer on a feeder, an energy estimation cap is established to guide the Discos (distribution companies) and thus protect unmetered customers from being overcharged while awaiting appropriate metering.”

The commission further noted that complaints bordering on metering were among the highest concerns recorded by DISCOs during the period.

It added that during the second quarter of 2021, 11 DISCOs received 241,476 complaints from consumers, indicating 1.91 percent more complaints than those received in the first quarter of 2021.

Last month, the commission said consumers are not mandated to pay for the prepaid meters under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).