There have been quite a several schemes in the Nigerian electricity spaces. The goal of these schemes has been to try and close the metering gap in the country. The schemes are the Credited Advanced Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI), the Meter Asset Provider (MAP), and the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP). Although, after all that has been said and done, the metering gap is still very wide.
It’s common knowledge that the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is plagued with many challenges. One of the most pressing of these challenges is the need for electricity consumers to be metered. Metering would enable Distribution Companies (DisCos) to know the amount of electricity consumed. Also, it would help curtail cases of energy theft.
All these benefits would greatly improve the collection rate of the DisCos, providing enough revenue for the generation and transmission arms of the electricity sector. However, these benefits of a perfect electricity sector are the perks of having a fully metered consumer base.
According to a recent World Bank report, 58% of electricity consumers in Nigeria do not have meters to measure the amount of electricity used. This statistic implies that the unmetered electricity consumers are billed under the estimated billing methodology as directed by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Electricity consumers are often not satisfied with estimated billing as they believe they pay for energy not consumed. For this reason, the Federal Government (FG) has made three attempts at closing the metering gap. After all has been said and done, though, metering is still one of the huge bottlenecks faced in the sector.
With three metering schemes already, what could be the solution to closing the wide metering gap? It is expected that after all that has been said and done, metering should not be a problem in the Nigerian electricity sector at this point. The FG has, however, promised that progress is being made under the NMMP. Hopefully, the programme addresses the very urgent metering challenge.