DISCOs’ meter installation rate dips 60.8%
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Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCOs) in Nigeria have recorded a combined 60.86 percent Quarter-on-Quarter, Q-o-Q, decline in meter installation rate in the Second Quarter of 2024, Q2’24.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) quarterly report yesterday said a total of 49,188 meters were installed during the period as against 125,664 meters installed in Q1’24.
However, according to the report, “the new installations increased the net end-user metering rate in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry, NESI by 0.64% between Q1’24 (44.79%) and Q2’24 (45.43%).
“During the quarter, 35,985 meters (73.16% of the total installations) were installed under the Meter Asset Provider, MAP, framework while 264 meters were installed under the National Mass Metering Programme, NMMP, framework.
“The Vendor Financed framework accounted for 12,843 meter installations while 96 meter installations were recorded under the DISCO Financed framework”.
The report added, “The Commission expects DISCOs to utilise a combination of the five meter financing frameworks that have been provided in the 2021 MAP and National Mass Metering Regulations (NERC – R – 113 – 2021) to close their respective metering gaps.
“As a safeguard for customers against exploitation due to the lack of meters, the Commission has continued to issue monthly energy caps for all feeders in each DISCO. This sets the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the respective month based on gross energy received by the DISCO and the consumption by metered customers.”Also NERC disclosed that DISCOs across the country received a staggering 287,441 consumer complaints during the second quarter of 2024. The complaints, according to the report sprung from issues relating to “Metering, billing, service interruption and tariff band complaints were the prevalent issues of customer complaints during the quarter.”
DISCOs’ meter installation rate dips 60.8% - Vanguard News (vanguardngr.com)
