By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
In a bid to meet the Presidential Metering Initiative, the Federal government said it has targeted a minimum acquisition and installation of two million meters annually within the next five years.
The Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this during a facility tour of Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Friday.
Adelabu, who identified metering as one of the infrastructure deficits militating against steady electricity in the country, lamented that Nigeria’s metering gap is over seven million which is about 47 per cent metre penetration.
He said that President Bola Tinubu-led administration is committed to bridging the metering gap in the country through the Presidential Metering Initiative.
He said, “The major deficit is metering penetration, which today is less than 50 per cent of total customers in electricity consumers.
“We have 13 million registered electricity consumers whose meters have not been installed today. So, we have about seven million meter gap, that is about 47 per cent meter penetration. That is the major issue in the sector, if you do not metre customers, you cannot bill them and if you do not bill you cannot collect.
“So, it’s affecting the sector and there are losses and the collecting end of the losses is metering and we believe it is a major hiccup in the power sector.
“A lot of Nigerians pay on the estimated bill, this is not only unfair, but it is also unjust, it is evil because in the estimated bill, there is no transparency; there is no sincerity.”
He noted that “Nigerians are complaining and the metering is an avenue for Distribution Companies to make for their lost revenue. And we have made a lot of numbers of DisCos to make a lot of refunds to customers.
“So, we are saying that the best way to go is to reduce this meter gap. President Bola Tinubu under his Renewed Hope Agenda vows to do anything that will impact positively the life of the people.
“And we have a target of a minimum of acquisition and installation of two million metres annually over the next five years. That is the minimum target we are given. That is 10 million metres and we are already taking steps to achieve this in terms of funding, and recovery strategy.”
Speaking while giving a brief presentation of the company, the General Manager, Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services, Mr Tolulope Ogunkolade, said that the company which was established and commissioned in 2017 has made significant progress.
He said, “We have undergone equipment upgrades across all the segments of the factory since 2022. We are consistently going to produce and maintain 99.9 per cent quality assurance
“We also planned to bring up robots because to produce 2.3 million meters in 12 months comes with a lot of manpower requirements, but by the time we integrate robots into our operations, it will definitely give us that mileage to accomplish the target within 12 months period.”