Business
Nigerian govt to provide 10m meters to electricity consumers — Adelabu
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said on Friday the Federal Government would provide 10 million meters to electricity consumers in the next five years.
The minister stated this during the ministerial briefing on the performance of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the last year.
He said the provision of the meters under the Presidential Metering Initiative would close the metering gap and reduce estimated billing in the country.
Adelabu added that the initiative was scheduled to provide two million meters per annum in the next five years to improve sector liquidity and limit estimated billing.
He said: “We have over seven million meter gap in the industry, out of over 12 million customers, just a little over five million are metered.
“Everybody is complaining of estimated billing and the president is determined to put an end to estimated billing.”
He said the ministry had just completed the bidding process for another 1.5 million meters financed by the World Bank Distribution Support Recovery Programme to improve sector liquidity.
READ ALSO: Single-phase now N81K as NERC approves price increase for prepaid meters
He revealed that contracts for the meters would be awarded to meter providers in a few months.
According to him, about 50,000 meters were procured and deployed to military formations nationwide to reduce Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) debts.
“President Bola Tinubu and German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, witnessed the signing of an accelerated performance agreement to continue on Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) – the SIEMENs Project.
“The project aimed to improve the electricity supply in the country, adding that the implementation of the pilot phase had resulted in infrastructure improvement.
“This includes an additional grid evacuation capacity of 280 Megawatts (MW) and an additional 183MW to be inaugurated by the end of June.
“In Phase 1 of the PPI, the Federal Government planned to rehabilitate 15 brownfield sub-stations by August, and construct of 22 greenfield sub-stations by October.
“This is a total of 37 sub-stations across the country and once this is completed, the sector will be able to deliver a stable power supply.”
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...