The Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) has revealed plans to launch a program called the “Meter Acquisition Fund” to tackle the metering challenges faced by electricity consumers and ensure an efficient billing system.
The Commissioner of Customers Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Mahmud, disclosed this at the Customer Complaints Resolution meeting in Jos, Plateau State on Tuesday.
Hajiya Mahmud emphasized that the Commission is working with the federal government to tackle metering problems and that the framework for the program will be shared with distribution companies and the public once completed.
She lamented that despite the introduction of electricity into the country over 120 years ago, metering-related issues still plague the power sector.
“Metering is one of the biggest challenges we are facing, and over the last couple of years, the Commission, in conjunction with the federal government, has come up with different initiatives to ensure that customers are metered,” said Hajiya Mahmud.
Furthermore, the National Meter Programme, a government initiative designed to meter one million customers and funded through the Central Bank of Nigeria, has metered close to a million customers under phase zero. However, there has been a delay in securing funds for phase one, which is expected to meter four million customers.
“We are still waiting for funds from the government; we don’t have control over the funding,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Jos Disco, Engineer Abdul Bello Mohammed, applauded the Commission for introducing new regulations in the industry. He stated that his company is fully committed to the regulation and has made customers a top priority, beginning with metering.
Under the World Bank’s intervention in metering, Jos Disco will be provided 120 US dollars to meter its customers. The company has also purchased 12,000 meters for immediate installation. Engineer Mohammed, however, expressed concern about the increasing rate of transformer vandalism and urged the public to cooperate in protecting these assets.
“We are engaging communities to make sure that they keep a vigil on these assets because if we allow them to continue to vandalize these transformers, both JED and its customers will suffer for it,” he said.
“We are also trying to inject discipline into our staff; any staff caught doing something unusual will be disciplined and brought to book.”
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