The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has said that the federal government is committed to the holistic implementation of the Presidential Metering Initiative on metering.
To bridge the metering gap in the country, the minister said the FG is targeting a minimum acquisition and installation of 2 million meters annually within the next five years.
Adelabu disclosed this during a facility tour of Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services in Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State on Friday, July 19.
He identified metering as one of the infrastructure deficits militating against steady electricity in the country, lamenting that Nigeria’s metering gap is over 7 million which is about 47 per cent meter penetration.
He said that President Bola Tinubu led administration is committed to bridging the metering gap in the country through the Presidential Metering Initiative.
He said, “The major deficit is metering penetration, which today is less than 50 per cent of total customers in electricity consumers.
“We have 13 million registered electricity consumers whose meters have not been installed today, which is below six million. So, we have about a seven-million-meter gap, that is about 47 per cent meter penetration. That is the major issue in the sector, if you do not meter customers you cannot bill them and if you do not bill you cannot collect.
“So, it’s affecting the sector and there are losses and the collecting end of the losses is metering and we believe is a major hiccup in the power sector. A lot of Nigerians pay on estimated bills, this is not only unfair, it is unjust, it is evil because in estimated bill, there is no transparency, there is no sincerity.
“Nigerians are complaining and the metering is an avenue for DisCos to make for their lost revenue. And we have made a lot of numbers of DisCos to make a lot of refunds to customers.
“So, we are saying that the best way to go is to reduce this meter gap. President Bola Tinubu under his renewed hope agenda vows to do anything that will impact positively the life of the people, is going to give his backing and support because of this comes with what we call Presidential Metering Initiatives (PMI) and constituted presidential metering council of which he made me the chairman.
“So that all the metering Initiatives that we have been having over time should come under a harmonised umbrella, the PMI and that is what we are doing.
“And we have a target of a minimum of acquisition and installation of two million meters annually over the next five years. That is the minimum target we are given. That is 10 million meters and we are already taking steps to achieve this in terms of funding, and recovery strategy.”
Speaking while giving a brief presentation of the company, the General Manager of Metering Solutions Manufacturing Services, Tolulope Ogunkolade, said that the company which was established and commissioned in 2017 has made significant progress.
He said, “We have undergone equipment upgrades across all the segments of the factory since 2022. We are consistently going to produce and maintain 99.9 per cent quality assurance.
“As we speak today, we do not do much of the inspection in the factory because inspection comes as an additional cost to the business.
“So, we make at every process of operation, we have our built-in quality control parameters and initiatives that enable us to ensure that when a product is getting out at the end of the day, we are sure that the product conforms with total Nigerian metering code.
“And also, in conformity with Nigerian smart code and conformity with the regulators.
“We also planned to bring up robots because to produce 2.3 million meters in 12 months comes with a lot of manpower requirements, but by the time we integrate robots into our operations, it will definitely give us that mileage to accomplish the target within 12-month periods.”
