AgegePulse Magazine
Emerging report indicates that Power consumers are going to start paying more for prepaid meters, as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has hiked the cost of the commodity.
It was gathered in Abuja, on Monday, that the Commission had increased the price for a three-phase meter from N67,055 to N82,855.19, while the cost of a single-phase meter was raised from N36,991 to N44.896.16.
The new prices were contained in a memo signed by the NERC Chairman, Prof. James Momoh, pegging the new price pursuant to section 19 (d) of the Meter Asset Providers, MAP, regulation.
However, the introduction of the MAP model, according to Stakeholders, is yet to adequately address the meter demands of customers.
Providing reasons for the increase in meter cost, Prof. Momoh was said to have explained that the hike in foreign exchange rate by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was a contributory factor.
His words: “In arriving at the approved unit costs, the Commission has considered the recent changes in foreign exchange approved by the CBN, and the applicable rate available to importers of meter components or fully assembled meters through investors and exporters’ forex window.”
Figures from the Commission showed that out of a total of 8,310,408 registered active electricity customers, only 3,704,302 (44.6 percent) have been metered.
This indicates that 55.4 percent of end-user customers are still on estimated billing.
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