How Consumers Lamented As Electricity Meter Prices Rise

 The cost of a single-phase electricity meter has risen to over N130,000 from N88,000 in the first quarter of this year.

This is the second time the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission would approve an increase in the prices of prepaid meters.

Sunday PUNCH gathered that the price of a single-phase meter ranged from N130,000 to N139,000, while a three-phase meter was sold between N219,000 and N229,000, depending on the vendor.

This is just as some consumers who have yet to be metered continued to lament high estimated billing from their Electricity Distribution Companies.

The consumers on direct connection lamented that they receive estimated billings every month, stating that the amount being charged by DisCos is not usually commensurable to the units of energy they used.

A single-phase smart meter was sold at N106,802.69 while the three-phase smart meter rose from N154,600 in May this year to goes for N210,751.61.

According to some of the electricity distribution companies who spoke to our correspondent, DisCos no longer have control over meter sales, stating that the customers deal directly with the meter asset provider, who is mandated to supply the meter within 10 working days after payment.

The Chief Executive Officer of Femadec Group, Fola Akinola, recently said meter application portals were shut in April because the vendors and the DisCos were regularising prices to reflect the current economic realities.

“In a situation where you fixed the price of meters when $1 was around N500, and now that $1 is over N1,300, you cannot sell the ones you have because you will not be able to replace them. People cannot bring in meters because of the exchange rate,” he stated.

Consumers kick

In an interview with our correspondent on Saturday, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumers Protection and Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, wondered why NERC would approve another meter price increase at a time the consumers are still struggling with the Band A tariff hike.

According to Okorie, Discos, aided by NERC, have been extorting Nigerians by failing to abide by the MAP policy which stipulated that consumers should get energy credit as a refund for meters paid for.

“The MAP scheme policy says that if a consumer pays for a meter, he should get a refund through energy credit. How many consumers have been paid back?

“Why will this sector be only about collecting money from the consumers without service delivery, transparency and accountability? This is because nobody punishes or monitors the Discos. It still boils down to the consumer aspect of the sector not being taken seriously.

The consumer rights activist disclosed that during the 2022 tariff hike, NERC had approved for DisCos that for every bill a consumer pays, a certain percentage should be for the Meter Acquisition Fund.

In June this year, the Federal Government approved N21bn under the Presidential Metering Initiative to provide meters to unmetered customers at no cost.

Consumers are asking how the N21bn Mater Acquisition Funds allocated to the DisCos were spent.

NERC spokesman, Usman Arabi, could not be reached at the time of filing this report.

An official of the commission who spoke on anonymity told our correspondent that customers are not to pay for meters under this initiative

Asked if this would not amount to discriminating against those who have been paying for meters for all these years, the NERC official retorted, “Those people are supposed to be refunded by the DisCos through energy credit and the commission is following up on the compliance.”

How Consumers Lamented As Electricity Meter Prices Rise

Another source told our correspondent that the MAF meters are for Band A customers only.

“The Phase 1 MAF meters will be given to Band A customers for free. It will eventually go round to other customer classes”, said the source.

However, our correspondent observed that the metering gap is still as high as seven million of the 13 million electricity customers.

The Executive Director of Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, Sunday Oduntan, told our correspondent that the meter policy has changed, saying DisCos no longer have control over meter sales.