Since May 1, 2019, when meter asset providers(MAPs) began their operation to provide meters to 4,606,106 electricity consumers and further reduce the metering gap in the country, their operation has remained sketchy. The reasons are many. First, many households are ignorant of the process of procuring meters for use under the new metering arrangements put in place by the government in April 2018. This may be due to inability of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC) to throw more light on the new metering scheme introduced by the Federal Government.
Secondly, not many of the meter asset providers are known to the consumers a development which has made it difficult for them to know the exact time they are going to be provided meters. This, is coupled with the fact that the mode of payment for the meters by the consumers, has remained unclear.
Although firms, including Abuja Electricity Power Distribution Company, Ikeja Electric( formerly Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company(IKEDC), Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company(IBEDC), Benin Electricity Distribution Company(IBEDC) and a few others, are believed to have rolled out meters to some areas in their jurisdictions, in conjunction with the MAPs they partnered in order to ensure the success of the scheme, the issue of metering in the Nigerian power sector is still a problem.
All the six generation companies (GenCos) and the eleven power distribution companies (DisCos) that came out of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) during the privatisation of the power sector in 2013, are grappling with debts estimated to be over N1trillion. This has made many to conclude that metering the country by the power firms and their partners (meter asset providers) is a far fetched objective. A visit to some business units owned by Ikeja Electric and Eko DisCo said it all.
At the Ikeja Electric Business Units in Dopemu, Agege, Idimu, Ikotun and others within the metropolis, many customers in an interview with The Nation, disagreed with the plans by the Federal Government, to solve metering problems.
A customer, Segun Ojo, said neither the government nor the meter asset providers approved bv the Federal Government have shown enough sincerity on the issue.
Ojo, a mechanical engineer, said the government has on two separate occasions delayed the take-off of the new metering scheme. He claimed that the development has made Nigerians not to have enough confidence in the government on the issue.
Ojo, a resident of Igbogbo in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, asked: ‘’How do we explain a situation whereby electricty consumers lacked adequate information about the meter asset providers assigned to them? How do we explain a situation, whereby the financial and technical capability of the firms that were approved to serve as meter asset providers remain unkown?
Ojo said he only knew that he was under Ikeja Electric(IK) jurisdiction as he gets his monthly electricity bills from the company.
‘’I do not know the meter asset providers, that partnered Ikeja Electric in order to assist the firm to meter its customers. So also many customers across the country. Many customers are yet o find out their MAPs, not to talk of mounting pressure on them to hasten the process of providing meter. How do we explain a situation whereby electricty consumers lacked adequate information about the meter asset providers assigned for them? How do we explain a situation, whereby the financial and technical capability of the firms that were approved to serve as meter asset providers remain unkowns for them,” he said.
The firms, Muhideen said, have demonstrated the ability to provide meters to customers nationwide, by bringing more meters into the country. He said his members have doubled their production in order to ensure that the new metering scheme succeeds, adding that their capacity to do the job is not in doubt.
On funding, he said many of the meter asset providers have discussed with their banks, with a view to get enough facility for operation.
Also, Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company Limited Managing Director, Mr Kola Balogun, said the metering arrangement, which gave the MAPs the nod to supply meters to Nigerians and further reduce the metering gap of 4.1 million customers, would help in reducing metering gap in the country.
He said: “The most important thing is that the metering gap would be very small as years roll by. This is good for the sector, which has battled metering problems for decades. The meter manufacturers, suppliers and importers of the product are better for it. The reason is because the idea would help in creating employment opportunities for the teeming population.’’
He advised Nigerians to think less of the problems faced by the metering scheme, adding that now that the sector has enough potential to make the scheme work.
Consumers, Balogun said, can pay for the pre-paid meter willingly and can as well choose to spread the payment over a period of time.
The Ikeja Electric spokesman, Mr Felix Ofolue, said many people are yet to be metered because there is liquidity problem in the sector. Based on this, it remains to be seen whether consumers are going to be metered now or not.
Source: The Nation
