The Federal Government has earmarked N700 billion from the federation account to support the rollout of free electricity meters as part of the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), as disclosed by Bolaji Tunji, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Power on Strategic Communications and Media.
In an interview with The PUNCH on Friday, Tunji confirmed that the PMI is progressing as planned, with an objective to distribute two million meters annually. He mentioned that the allocated funds have already reached N700 billion and that the procurement process is underway.
“The Presidential Metering Initiative is making steady progress. We aim to deliver two million meters each year, with the first batch expected to commence in the first quarter of next year. The allocation of N700 billion is in place, and the funds are ready for use,” he stated.
Additionally, Tunji indicated that the government is committed to delivering 1.3 million electricity meters this month out of a total of 3.2 million meters planned under the World Bank Distribution Sector Reform Programme (DISREP). “The DISREP programme will kick off this month,” he added.
An analysis of the minutes from the Federal Account Allocation Committee meetings from April to August revealed that the government has accumulated N420 billion through a monthly deduction of N100 billion. This deduction is part of a strategy to address the metering gap in the country, which currently stands at 50 percent.
In April, N120 billion was deducted from the revenue as the initial tranche for the PMI, bringing the total deducted from the federation account to N420 billion by August.
In May, Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu announced that the government would allocate an initial N75 billion as seed funding, while the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority committed to providing N250 billion annually for the initiative. The minister also noted that the initiative would tap into debt financing from various financial institutions to enhance the resources available for the PMI.
Victor Ojelabi, Managing Director of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, recently mentioned that the PMI is expected to unlock approximately N1 trillion in revenue that is currently inaccessible due to a large number of unmetered customers in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
Under the PMI framework, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has approved N21 billion for the 11 electricity distribution companies to supply meters to end-users at no cost.
The Distribution Sector Recovery Programme is an extensive initiative designed to tackle the challenges and inefficiencies in Nigeria’s electricity distribution sector.
Despite the installation of 3.03 million meters since the privatization of the power sector in 2013, NERC has acknowledged that the metering gap remains significant, reporting that out of 13.33 million registered customers, only 6.15 million have been metered, resulting in a metering rate of 46.14 percent as of 2024.
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