The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says only three out 11 Electricity Distribution Companies in the country had metered more than 50 per cent of electricity customers under their coverage areas as at June 2019.
NERC, the regulator of the power industry, said the DisCos were Abuja Electricity Distribution Company , Benin Electricity Distribution Company and Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company.
The regulator made this known in its Second Quarter 2019 Report obtained in Lagos on Tuesday.
The report indicated that out of 8,881,443 registered active electricity customers, only 3,811,729 (42.92 per cent ) had been metered, indicating that 57.08 per cent of the end-use customers were still on estimated billing as at the end of June 2019.
“In comparison to the first quarter of 2019, the numbers of registered and metered customers increased by 40,642 and 17,834, representing 0.46 per cent and 0.47 per cent increases respectively.
“The increase in the number of registered customers is attributable to the on-going enumeration exercise by DisCos through which illegal consumers of electricity are brought onto the billing platform of the DisCos. ”
According to the report, the metering status of the DisCos under the period is: Benin DisCo, 56.52 per cent; Eko, 48.53; Ikeja , 46.23 per cent; Abuja 52.38 per cent and Jos, 33.42 per cent.
Others, NERC added are: Port Harcourt, 67.83 per cent; Ibadan, 38.64 per cent; Kaduna, 22.20 per cent; Kano, 23.92 per cent; Enugu , 44.51 per cent and Yola, 20.67 per cent.
It said the metering of end-use customers had continued to be a priority of the commission as it moved to end complaints of estimated billing in the country.
NERC noted that the pace of metering customers was insufficient to achieving the goal of closing the metering gap in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry within three years.
“The commission, however, envisage a significant improvement in meters roll-out when all DisCos’ Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) have gotten their permits and fully commence meter deployments,” it said. (NAN)
