By Chesa Chesa
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says that payment for electricity meters under the Meter Assets Providers (MAP) Programme is optional to customers.
The Commission in a statement in Abuja made the clarification that customers have the choice of paying for meters under the MAP programme or wait to get one under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The Commission had last week approved a rise in the price of meters under MAP citing economic factors.
In the new price scheme the cost of a single-phase meter was increased from N44,896.17 to N58,661.69 while the cost of a three-phase meter was increased from N82,855.19 to N109,684.36.
In making the clarification, NERC said: “We wish to reiterate that the National Mass Metering Program (NMMP) designed to provide all consumers of electricity with meters is a policy intervention of the Federal Government supported by CBN concessionary loans to DisCos.
“This laudable initiative is still very much on course. A total of over 900,000 units ofmeters have so far been installed under the take-off phase of the scheme withoutany payment by benefitting consumers. While this doesn’t cover many of the
unmetered customers, we are pleased to intorm electricity consumers that the nextphase under which about four million units of meters would be procured from local meter manufacturers has commenced. We once again state that, under this National Mass Metering Program, consumers would not be required to paydirectly for the meters.
“Pending the conclusion of the NMMP procurement processes and thecommencement of manutacturing/installation, consumers may elect to acquire a meter immediately from Meter Asset Providers (MAPs).
“The regulatory frameworkapproved by the Commission under the MAP/NMMP Regulations provide for therefund of the cost of the meter through energy credits to the customer at the time of vending. The recently isued notice by the Commission on the adjusted cost of meters is designed to protect consumers from arbitrary pricing by any MAP in the context of recent changes in macroeconomic parameters affecting the cost of production”, it added.
