The nation’s electricity metering gap, put at over 8 million, will soon be bridged with the new plan by the federal government to roll out 2 million meters each year in the next three to five years. The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who stated this when he visited the Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company Limited recently in Mowe, Ogun State, explained that the new policy would enable consumers buy meters directly from approved vendors. He also disclosed of an ongoing plan to make laws that will boost local content in the power sector and increase the metering of electricity consumers.
Since the liberalisation of the power sector some years ago, the inability of the power companies to supply meters to consumers has been a major challenge. Despite past efforts to bridge the metering gap, the problem still persists. Consumers have alleged that the power companies have deliberately refused to muster the political will to meet the meter needs. The power companies appear to be comfortable with giving consumers estimated billings or ‘crazy bills.’ Such bills are issued arbitrarily and devoid of due process.
No doubt, the minister has spoken well on bridging the metering gap. We urge him to go ahead and ensure that electricity consumers are supplied with meters in the next three to five years. Bridging the metering gap with local producers of electricity meters is achievable within the stated time-frame. Let the lawmakers come up with the enabling legislations that will quicken the process of local manufacturing or assemblage of electricity meters.
The local manufacturers of meters should be encouraged by the government to mass produce the meters through adequate funding and granting of credit facilities. It is sad that consumers who apply for meters will wait for as long as two years or more without any hope of getting them. We believe that adequate metering of electricity consumers is the first logical step towards ensuring stable power supply to the citizens.
In January 2022, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) stated that 8.1million of the nation’s 12.8million electricity consumers were still unmetered. The federal government in September 2020 launched the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) with the help of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The scheme was aimed at eliminating estimated billings and strengthening local meter manufacturing, assembly and deployment capacity. However, not much was achieved in providing electricity consumers with meters.
Without stable electricity, Nigeria’s hope of being industrialised will not be realised. Efforts by past governments to ensure that Nigerians have adequate electricity were unsuccessful despite the billions of naira and even dollars injected into the sector since 1999. The paucity of power supply can explain why many companies are leaving the country in droves to other West African countries. The current drive for foreign investors will amount to nothing without pragmatic moves to ensure steady power supply in the country. The current erratic power supply is a great disincentive to manufacturing and investments, both domestic and foreign.
Therefore, the liberalisation of metering will hopefully reduce the frustrations of waiting endlessly for prepaid meters by consumers nationwide. The minister should ensure that electricity consumers are no longer extorted and exploited by power companies’ officials over delivery of prepaid meters. There is urgent need to check the lapses and excesses of the power companies. Liberalisation of the power sector does not give the power companies the license to exploit the consumers or give them shoddy services. Let the minister ensure that the metering project succeeds this time around.
However, what is important to the consumers is steady supply of electricity. That Nigeria is still striving to meet the 10,000 MW of electricity despite huge investments in the power sector is unacceptable. It is embarrassing that South Africa generates over 40,000WM of electricity, while Nigeria is struggling to generate between 3,000MW and 4,000MW of electricity. At the same time, the government must address the incessant collapse of the national grid, which has often plunged the nation into darkness.
For stable power supply, the government should look beyond thermal sources of power supply and leverage on solar energy. Apart from being renewable and cost-effective, solar energy is clean and affordable. With about 92 million Nigerians not having access to electricity, solar energy remains the cheapest option to electrify Nigeria and halt the rising energy poverty.