It’s your duty to supply meters, FG tells DisCos

Contrary to the position of the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Sunday Oduntan, on meter supply, the Federal Government has said it is the responsibility of the power distribution companies to provide meters to customers.

Last month, Oduntan had said the issue of metering was no more in the hands of any power distribution company in Nigeria since the Federal Government had introduced the Meter Assets Provider (MAP) Regulation.

But the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, while speaking at the 29th power sector stakeholders’ meeting on Monday in Abuja, said the MAP Regulation did not indicate the DisCos would no longer be saddled with the responsibility of providing meters.

Recall that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had introduced the MAP regulations to eliminate estimated billing practice, attract private investment into the provision of metering services, and bridge the over five million metering gap through accelerated meter rollout.

Read also: Fashola blames DISCOS for Nigeria’s power problems

The MAP regulations mandate electricity DisCos to engage meter assets providers, who will provide funding, procurement, installation, repair and replacement of meters, to meet DisCos’ metering obligations to their consumers.

NERC had explained that by the new regulation, MAPs would henceforth take up the duty of providing meters to power customers, among other functions.

But according to Fashola, the procurement of meters was still a contractual obligation of the DisCos despite the introduction of the new regulation.

He said, “MAP, which was introduced to address meter supply gaps, provides relief to the Discos of the financial burden of supplying meters, and allow entrepreneurs to take this up as a business and diversify source of meter supply.

“Regulations and conditions for operation were issued by NERC on 28th of March 2018. Part of the objectives of this policy was to give relief to the Discos of the financial burden of meters.

“This government’s intervention is part of its roles of enabling business in the sector; it does not relieve the Discos of their contractual obligations to provide meters. On the contrary, it seeks to help them to perform their contracts.”

 

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