Despite unmet metering gaps to over six million customers/households, some electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) have begun to inform customers that tariff will rise from July 1, following approval from the regulator and the Nigerian Government.
With over six million Nigerian households still facing estimated billing, according to the latest data from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), consumers will have to contend with additional costs from the increased price of prepaid meters over naira devaluation and new electricity tariff.
According to NERC’s quarterly report for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019, inadequate metering remains a serious challenge in the industry, with only 3,918,322 (37.77%) of the total customer population of 10,374,597 are metered.
Also, the number of complaints on metering and billing increased significantly and still dominate the customer complaints during the quarter under review, with 23.37 per cent of the 177,807 complaints bordered on metering, while 27.13 per cent was on billing issues.
With 62.37% of the end-user customers on estimated billing, huge collection losses due to customer apathy have posed a serious challenge to the viability and sustainability of the industry.
NERC, had last year, launched the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) policy to bridge the metering gap, but was only able to achieve 37.7 per cent progress at the end of December 2019.
The scheme transferred the cost of meters to consumers, but most people, who registered and made payment to DisCos and meter licensees, however, remain unmetered, even after NERC had said they must be metered within 10 working days.
Also, the increase in import duty on meters (from 15 per cent to 45 per cent), bottlenecks at the ports, and the outbreak of COVID-19 could further weaken the plan, especially with the bulk of the meters being imported from China.
NERC, in a letter to the DisCos and MAP, said the price of single-phase meters is now N44896.17 rather the previous N36,991.50, and customers applying for three-phase meters will now pay N82,855 instead of N67,055.
“In arriving at the approved unit costs, the commission has considered the recent changes in foreign exchange approved by the Central Bank and the applicable rates available to importers of meter components and/or fully assembled meters through the ‘Investors and Importers’ forex window,” NERC said.
On the increase in tariff, a notice from some Discos indicates that the new tariff will be implemented from next month.
