The Federal Government has set aside N700 billion to implement the distribution of free electricity meters under the Presidential Metering Initiative.
The amount being deducted from the monthly federation revenue before allocation to the three tiers of government is designed to resolve the metering gap which currently stands at 50 per cent.
An analysis of the Federal Account Allocation Committee meeting minutes obtained by our correspondent between April and August showed that the government has saved N420bn from a monthly deduction of N100bn.
Recall that N120bn was deducted from April revenue as the first tranche of the PMI.
This means a total of N420bn has been deducted from the federation account for this initiative.
In May this year, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the government would provide an initial N75bn as seed capital, while the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority pledged to inject a minimum of N250bn annually for the initiative’s duration.
Adelabu also disclosed that the initiative would leverage debt financing from diverse financial institutions to bolster the PMI’s resources.
The Managing Director of Abuja Distribution Electricity Distribution Company, Victor Ojelabi, recently said that the PMI would unlock about N1tn in revenue currently tied up in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry due to a large number of unmetered customers.
Under the initiative, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission announced the approval of N21bn for the 11 electricity Distribution Companies to provide meters for end-use customers at zero cost.
Providing an update on the issue in an interview with Saturday PUNCH on Friday, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Power on Strategic Communications and Media, Bolaji Tunji, affirmed that the programme was still on course with a target to deliver two million meters yearly.
Tunji revealed that the amount saved had reached N700bn, adding that procurement had started.
He said, “The Presidential Metering Initiative is still on course, two million meters every year, delivery of the first batch will start by the first quarter of next year. About N700bn provision has been made, and the money is ready.”
Tunji further revealed that the government would fulfil its promise to deliver 1.3 million out of the 3.2 million meters under the World Bank Distribution Sector Reform Programme initiative this month.