Government to deploy six million electricity meters in 2023
Six million electricity meters are to be deployed nationwide in the first and second quarters of 2023, to reduce the number of unmetered electricity consumers in Nigeria, the Federal Government has said.
This was disclosed in a December 2022 document on the review of the performance of the power sector/Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry under the current administration.
In the document, the government said it has successfully executed a metering initiative post privatisation with one million meters rolled out in the first phase of the National Mass Metering Programme.
The Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu, said the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission were fundamental in designing and implementing this programme.
He said, “We are perfecting plans for an additional six million meters under the second and third phases of the programme that will commence in the first and second quarters of 2023 respectively.
“The first phase generated 10,000 jobs in installation and assembly and we anticipate over 20,000 additional jobs would be generate in the second phase. Both the phases have sustainable financing structures.”
He added that the government was also establishing a Meter Service Fund that would allow for continuous metering in the NESI.
The move comes just as flat rates for unmetered consumers continue to rise amid Nationwide and global inflation.
Unmetered consumers have lamented the growing price hike which has shifted from around 6000 Naira to over N15000 per month in 2022.
Earlier in the year, federal lawmakers decried what they described an unfair billing system which saw Nigerians paying more for services they do not get.
Punch/Hauwa Abu
