Nigerians to pay more for electricity meters as NERC approves price deregulation

Nigerians will face increased costs when obtaining electricity meters, as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has announced the deregulation of meters provided to electricity consumers under the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme. This decision was disclosed on Monday through an order signed by the Chairman, Sanusi Garba, and the Commissioner of Legal, Licensing, and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye.

According to the Commission, this move is aimed at allowing end-use electricity customers to procure meters from MAPs of their choice, based on competitive open market prices. This means that customers who were previously paying fixed prices, such as N81,975.16 for single-phase meters and N143,836.16 for three-phase meters, will now need to pay prices determined by the meter providers.

The Commission stated, “The cost of meters deployed under the MAP scheme is hereby deregulated to enable end-use customers to acquire meters from MAPs of their choice based on competitive open market prices determined from transparent bidding frameworks.” It also noted that all MAP permit holders are now eligible to provide services and transact with any Distribution Company (Disco) in Nigeria, subject to compliance with Disco-specific requirements.

Furthermore, all Discos are required to ensure the seamless integration of smart meters deployed by MAPs with their head-end systems and meter data management systems. This development follows NERC’s approval of a tariff increase of over 200% for customers receiving 20 hours of power supply, which occurred several weeks ago.