A total number of 6,288,624 (46.57%) customers, out of the 13,503,342 registered electricity customers across the twelve (12) Distribution Companies in Nigeria were metered as of 31st December 2024.
This was contained in the Fourth Quarter, 2024 Report of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) released on Monday.
The report disclosed that about 185,439 end-user customers were metered across all the DisCos during the Q4, 2024, with Ikeja, Ibadan and Benin DisCos recording the highest number of meter installations – they accounted for 28.81%, 20.00%, and 12.62% respectively, of the total installations.
This was relative to 2024/Q3, when 185,087 customers were metered, showing a slight increase (+0.19%) in the total number of customers metered in 2024/Q4.
According to the report, six (6) DisCos recorded improvements in meter installation between 2024/Q3 and 2024/Q4, with Benin, Kaduna and Jos DisCos recording the greatest improvements of +39.53%, +32.20%, and +24.82%, respectively.
Conversely, it said the other six (6) DisCos recorded low meter installations in 2024/Q4 compared to 2024/Q3 with Aba (-55.38%), Abuja (-22.99%) and Eko (-18.32%) DisCos recording significant declines.
NERC disclosed that out of the 185,439 end-use customers metered in 2024/Q4, 179,064 (96.56%) of the customers were metered under the MAP framework, 4,076 (2.20%) were metered under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) framework, 1,924 (1.04%) were metered under the Vendor Financed framework, and 374 (0.21%) were metered under the DisCo Financed framework.
It further disclosed that under the MAP framework, a total of 179,064 meters were installed in 2024/Q4 representing a +0.20% increase compared to the 178,715 MAP meter installations recorded in 2024/Q3.
The Commission said Ikeja (53,431), Ibadan (37,089) and Benin (23,397) DisCos recorded the highest number of installations under the MAP framework during the quarter with 29.84%, 20.71% and 13.07% of the total installations respectively.
The MAF that was created by the Commission in June 2024 provides for a metering surcharge in the allowed tariffs for all DisCos. It is geared towards providing regulatory-backed long-tenor financing for the procurement of meters towards closing the metering gap in the NESI.
As planned, a proportionate amount is deducted from the monthly collections of DisCos towards the MAF; this is then made available for DisCos to purchase meters either through a bulk one-off procurement or repayment of mid/long-term vendor-financed meter deployments.
The Commission vide the Order: NERC/2024/072 on the Operationalisation of Tranche A of the MAF approved the use of ₦21.00 billion out of the funds that have accrued in the MAF as of the April 2024 settlement cycle, for DisCos to provide meters for Band A customers in their franchise area at no cost.
The approved fund was distributed pro-rata among the DisCos based on their contribution to the MAF scheme at the cut-off date.
The report revealed that during the quarter (2024/Q4), 4,076 meters were installed under the MAF framework, noting that Yola (1,755), Jos (1,674), Benin (568) and Kano (79) are the only DisCos that have commenced meter installations under the MAF.
