The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved ₦21 billion for electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to acquire meters, according to a document titled “Order on the Operationalisation of ‘Tranche A’ of the Meter Acquisition Fund” dated June 20. This fund, sourced from the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), aims to address the significant metering gap in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), where only 44.67% of the 13.4 million registered customers have electricity meters.
The NERC highlighted that deploying these funds under the MAF scheme would accelerate meter installation, reduce commercial and collection losses for DisCos, enhance service quality, and improve customer satisfaction. The commission noted that the available funds for the first tranche of the MAF scheme amount to ₦21,864,851,725.00, with ₦21 billion approved for immediate use. DisCos are instructed to conduct a transparent procurement process for meter acquisition within 14 days from the effective date of the order.
The disbursement allocation for the first tranche includes ₦4.35 billion for Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, ₦2.99 billion for Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, and ₦2.92 billion for Eko Electricity Distribution Company, among others. This initiative follows the federal government’s announcement on June 7 by Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu, stating that ₦20 billion would be disbursed to DisCos for procuring meters for unmetered Band A customers, who receive a minimum of 20 hours of electricity daily and are charged a premium tariff of ₦208 per kilowatt-hour.