FG Issues Fresh Directive To Discos On Electricity Meter

The Federal Government, via the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has instructed all electricity distribution companies (Discos) to disclose the reimbursements they have issued to customers who acquired meters through the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme.

Naijaonpoint reports that NERC disclosed this information on its social media platforms on Monday following the commission’s inaugural Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Stakeholders meeting for 2025.

The MAP framework facilitates the provision and upkeep of end-user meters as a service provided by external investors, from which customers utilizing these meters pay metering service fees.

According to NERC regulations, “if a customer chooses to make advance payments for meters under these guidelines, the meter’s cost shall be reimbursed through energy credits by the distribution licensee. The repayment schedule will be determined by the commission, considering an assessment of the distribution licensee’s financial status.”

Nevertheless, consumer advocacy groups have raised concerns that the Discos have been unreliable in reimbursing customers who received meters through the MAP initiative.

To ensure transparency and promote customer participation in the scheme, the regulator has mandated that refund details be publicly accessible on their websites.

“NERC has directed Discos to publish details of MAP refunds on their websites for transparency. This will demonstrate commitment and consistency to the scheme and encourage customers,” the commission stated.

The Federal Government has said it is working to close the metering gap, which includes more than seven million unmetered users.

President Bola Tinubu‘s Special Advisor on Energy, Olu Verheijen, has said that the government intends to meter all consumers in order to lower industry losses.

“The government is intervening in the short term by making sure that the registered customers within the Disco have meters because no matter what your tariff is, you need to make sure that you can collect and reduce your collection losses. And so, that’s one of the interventions. You’ve heard about the Presidential Metering Initiative, which looks to consolidate all the different metering initiatives that are funded by different entities.

“And so, we have the ability to know what your consumption is, what you can afford to pay, and make sure that we’re collecting the revenues from that and improving cash flow that way. It’s the first approach to making sure that DisCos have the financial capacity or cash flows that are required to drive investments in reliability and green access,” Verheijen stated.

The commission revealed that in order to discuss the status of the Nigerian electricity supply industry, it hosted its first NESI Stakeholders meeting of 2025 at its headquarters.

Naijaonpoint understands that the tariff methodology and the effects of the state transition, NESI liquidity, the market’s financial assessment, and the shift to a multi-tier electricity market in relation to the state electricity regulatory commissions were among the subjects covered.

The commission said that the quarterly meeting brings together energy stakeholders to discuss the state of the NESI and address critical issues in the sector.