The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has stated that 70,456 electricity customers got meters in July, 2024, bringing to 6,053,479 the number of consumers metered in the country.
NERC, in a factsheet released on its X handle, said the percentage of metered electricity consumers was 45.54 per cent as the country currently had 13,293,739 registered customers.
The factsheet showed that Jos DisCo did not provide any meter for its customers in July, despite having only 33.62 per cent of its customers metered.
On the other hand, Ibadan DisCo had the highest rate of new metered customers with 29,277 provided in July. This was followed by Benin DisCo with 10,549 meters, Abuja DisCo with 7,332, Ikeja DisCo with 6,657, Enugu DisCo with 6,008 and Eko DisCo with 4,257.
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Others are Aba Power 2,307; Kaduna DisCo 1,945; Port Harcourt DisCo 1,907; Kano DisCo 139 and Yola DisCo with 78.
The report also stated that it received most complaints in the month on meters, accounting for 40.42 per cent of the 114,562 complaints it received.
It stated that the highest complaint came from customers under Eko DisCo, with 11,030 complaints, while the least was from Benin DisCo with 102 complaints.
Recall that the federal government in May deregulated the price of electricity allowing meter vendors to sell to consumers at prices convenient to both sides.
With the deregulated meter prices, a single-phase meter rose from N88,000 to an average of N147,000, depending on the vendor. This is about a 67 per cent increase for a single-phase meter.
NERC which approved the price hike had said the prices of meters were deregulated after Meter Asset Providers and other operators requested a further review of meter prices in consideration of the significant changes in foreign exchange and inflation rates since the last price review of the prices of meters by NERC in September, 2023.
It said the significant changes in the macroeconomic variables had constrained the abilities of meter providers to supply meters at the approved regulated price.
It said, “The commission has noted the need for the efficient pricing of meters to respond more quickly to changes in macroeconomic parameters, particularly exchange rates.”
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