FG hikes pre-paid meter fee to N36,991.50
The Federal Government has hiked fee for single phase pre-paid meter to N36.991.50, investigation by New Telegraph revealed at the weekend, as efforts to end crazy billing by the distribution companies heightened at the weekend.
The last known price for this commodity under the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme was approximately N24,600.
While the CAPMI scheme has been aborted, the Federal Government, a document of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) sighted at the weekend showed, would be rolling out new meters under the Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) in less than 25 days from now.
“MAPs shall charge a maximum of N36,991.50 for single phase meters and N67,055.85 for three phase meters,” the document showed.
“These costs are inclusive of supply, installation, maintenance and replacement of meters over its technical life,’’ the Commission noted, adding that the price is effective with mass metering for electricity consumers beginning May 1.
NERC’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Usman Arabi, who validated the new meter price, stated that contracts had been awarded for the connection of over 1.4 million meters by two DisCos under the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) programme of the Federal Government.
Giving a breakdown of the contracts, the Commission said: “Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) has appointed Mojec International Limited, Meron Consortium and Turbo Engineering Limited to provide 487,000, 213,000 and 200,000 meters, while JEDC has appointed Triple 7 and Mojec International Limited consortium to provide 500,000 meters.”
NERC, Arabi added, “issued permits to MAPs on April 5, in accordance with section 4(3) of the MAP Regulations 2018, to MAPs that were successful in the procurements.
“The procurement was conducted by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company Plc. AEDC and Jos Electricity Distribution Company Plc. (JEDC).
“Section 4(3) of the MAP Regulation 2018 requires all electricity distribution licensees to engage MAPs that would assist, as investors, in closing the
metering gap.”
Having completed the procurement, MAP, the NERC’s spokesperson said, was projected to install the 1.4 million meters at the premises of customers of AEDC and JEDC within 10 working days of making payment to MAPs.
He said the payment and installation of the meters within the time frame were in accordance with section 18 (3) of the MAP Regulations 2018.
“NERC shall monitor closely the rollout plan of distribution licensees and overall compliance with the regulation and various service agreements by the MAP and electricity distribution licensees,” Arabi said.
Before the MAPs scheme, the CAPMI came about due to the slow pace of customer metering by the DISCOs, as well as the high level of complaints received from customers and dissatisfaction with the current estimated billing practices.
CAPMI provides a platform for willing customers to pay the cost of the meter into a dedicated account jointly managed by the DisCo and meter vendor/installer.
Once payment is effected, the customer then had their meters installed within 45 days by a NERC accredited vendor/installer.
