The Ministry of Power has earmarked N2bn for the metering of unmetered Band A customers.
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated this on Friday at the Business Day Energy Conference held in Lagos.
Band A customers are those who get a minimum of 20-hour power supply and pay N206 per kilowatt-hour after the removal of government subsidies.
According to Adelabu, the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Alhaji Garba Sanusi, visited him on Thursday for a discussion on the N20bn.
Adelabu disclosed that he agreed with the NERC chairman that the fund be used to procure meters for the Band A customers underestimated billing by September.
“Before I left the office yesterday, the chairman of NERC was in my office, Alhaji Garba Sanusi, and we have agreed that we have an accrued N20 billion for metering.
“And I said let’s release the N20 billion for the DisCos to procure meters for the unmetered Band A customers. Before the end of September, that is going to happen,” Adelabu stated.
He stated that 3.5 million meters would be supplied by the end of the year to improve revenue for the cash-strapped power sector.
Adelabu stated that most of the supply would be sourced from international vendors, while a smaller quantity is expected to come from local manufacturers due to their limited capacity.
“This year, two million meters would be procured plus the 1.5 million meters being procured with World Bank support. We are going to have 3.5 million meters installed by the year-end,” he added.
The minister added that competitive bidding for the first batch of 1.5 million meters has already been concluded, with delivery expected within months.
Nigeria has about seven million unmetered customers, according to a report by the NERC.
Following the fall of the naira against the dollar, the NERC deregulated the price of meters, leading to a surge in the cost of the product.
A single-phase meter now sells for a price above N100,000, depending on the vendor.