….As NERC, DisCos Threaten Stiff Penalties For Fraudsters
The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Ayodeji Gbeleyi, on Wednesday advised electricity consumers in the country to reject demand by anybody to pay for electricity meters based on the arrangement by the Federal Government that the smart meters should be distributed freely to consumers nationwide.
Gbeleyi, who gave the advice at a power sector stakeholders’ interactive session with the media organized by the Bureau in Abuja, maintained that the government, the electricity regulators and operators had agreed that consumers should not pay a dime for meters as part of the arrangements under the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) to ensure that the huge gap in meter supply is gradually bridged.
By its design, under the DISREP 3.2 million smart meters will be procured and installed over four years thorugh competitive international and local bidding process
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According to him, surveys on the metering gap showed that currently about 5.6 million metering gap exists in the power sector and that based on the World Bank funding support for the implementation of the DISREP, about 700,000 meters had already been delivered out of which about 200,000 are being installed by DisCos free of charge for customers nationwide.
The Director-General said: “Recent news reports indicated that customers were paying for meters but that is totally wrong and unacceptable. The Federal Government, in collaboration with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the DisCos, has made it clear that meters should be distributed freely to consumers to bridge the metering gap and ensure transparently billing regime in the downstream subsector value chain of the power sector.”
Gbeleyi maintained that the Federal Government was committed to transparent implementation of the DISREP in view of its immeasurable benefits to the ongoing power sector reform initiatives aimed at achieving stable power supply and sustainable socioeconomic development of the country.
Speaking at the forum, the NERC Chairman, Dr. Musiliu Olalekan Oseni, recalled the various reform measures that had been undertaken by the Federal Government over the past few years to boost power generation and distribution in the country, and reinforced the BPE boss’ position on the deployment of meters freely to consumers.
The industry regulator explained that the DISREP had helped in the efforts of the government to close the metering gap, adding that the commission is making efforts to open bids for meter manufacturing in the country before the end of this month to improve the meter supply nationwide.
Oseni explained that the successful implementation of the DISREP would go a long way to build consumer confidence in the power distribution system, and position the DisCos for improved revenue generation to enhance the efficiency of the subsector.
He warned that the NERC would not condone any form of abuse in the meter distribution process, adding that any culprit found to be undermining the implementation of the free meter distribution process will be sanctioned.
In his remarks at the media interactive session, the Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Olowoniyi, said that the DIREP was designed to strengthen the downstream sector of the power industry through revenue assurance and the delivery of over 3 million meters to consumers nationwide.
Olowoniyi, who confirmed that of the 700,000 meters received so far under the DISREP, about 150,000 had been installed, assured that “during this present administration, the current meter gap will be fully closed through adequate funding and transparency in the distribution value chains.”
The representatives of the various DisCos in their contributions during the session scheduled for their inputs to the meter distribution and other operational issues within their franchise areas, expressed their total commitment to the successful DISREP implementation, including their readiness to combat all forms of abuses that may undermine the government’s efforts to get the free meters circulated to millions of un-metered consumers nationwide.
Under the DISREP, supply and installation of meters for customer are free as the costs have been paid to the Contractors and it will be recouped through the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) regulated by the NERC.
The programme is integrated with other Federal Government’s complementary metering initiatives such as the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) and the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF).
Photo Caption
Chairman Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Musiliu Oseni, (5th Left) CEO, Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Wola Joseph-Condotti,(6th left); Kano DisCo CEO, Abubakar Jimeta (4th right); Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr Ayodeji Gbeleyi (3rd right) Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power, Adedayo Olowoniyi (2nd right); and other participants during the BPE’s meeting with stakeholders on DISREP supply and installation of smart meters on Wednesday in Abuja
