Electricity consumers have kicked against the hike in the prices of prepaid meters as announced by the power distribution companies.

The Electricity Consumers Protection and Advocacy Centre told our correspondent that the electricity sector in the country seems to have been structured to inflict hardships on the masses.

The PUNCH reports that after months of shutting down their meter application portals, some Discos over the weekend came out with the reviewed prices of the product.

The hiked prices followed the deregulation of meter sales by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, giving room for vendors and buyers to sell meters at prices convenient to both sides.

With the deregulated meter prices, a single-phase meter rose from N88,000 to an average of N147,000, depending on the vendor. This is about a 67 per cent increase for a single-phase meter.

In a notice to its customers, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company said the new meter prices were in line with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Order on Deregulation of meter prices for the Meter Asset Providers Scheme.

According to the EKEDC, electricity meters from Quantum Manufacturing and Metering Solution Limited are N127,601.26 for one phase, and N231,895.99 for a three-phase.

At Holley Metering Nig Limited, one-phase meter costs N147,640.01 while the price for a three-phase meter rose to N227,207.76.

Gospell Digital Technology Ltd sells one-phase meters at N139,750 as the price for the three-phase is N258,000.

Also, Gosslink Engineering Limited charges N167,700 for a single-phase meter and N258,000 for three-phase meters.

Our correspondent observed that Turbo Energy Ltd has the lowest price of N122,337.76 for a one-phase meter and N206,737.42 for a three-phase.

The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company on Friday disclosed that a single-phase smart meter is now N106,802.69, from N88,000. Similarly, the three-phase smart meter is now sold at N210,751.61 from N154,600 before.

The prices were as supplied by IBEDC meter vendor, Mojec Asset Management Company Limited.

The new meter prices took effect from May 23, according to the IBEDC. It was stated that a customer would have his meter installed within 10 working days after payment had been made.

The prices would also be reviewed monthly after a competitive bid process by the vendors, the distribution company added.

“Dear esteemed customer, kindly be notified that there has been a change in the price of meters effective May 23rd, 2024,” the IBEDC announced.

“Meters are to be installed in customer’s premises within 10 working days after payment.

“Cost of meters will be determined monthly after a competitive bid process by the vendors,” the notice read partly.

In the same vein, the Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt and Kano Discos have all announced the reviewed prices of prepaid meters, choosing almost the same vendors.

Suppliers blame forex

The Chief Executive Officer of Femadec Group, Fola Akinola, recently said that power distribution companies shut down their meter application portals because the manufacturers and the DisCos were regularising the prices of meters to reflect the current economic realities.

kinola, a vendor, said the review of the meter prices became necessary following the rise of the dollar against the naira.

“This has to do with foreign exchange. Once these foreign exchange issues are resolved, we will join the Federal Government in closing the metering gap by supplying meters with little margin on our cost.

“But in a situation where you fixed the price of meters when $1 was around N500, and now that $1 is over N1,300, you cannot sell the ones you have because you will not be able to replace them. People cannot bring in meters because of the exchange rate,” he stated.

Earlier, the NERC had released an order on the deregulation of meter prices under the MAP scheme.

It said the prices of meters were deregulated after asset providers and other operators requested a further review of meter prices in consideration of the significant changes in foreign exchange and inflation rates since the last price review of the prices of meters by NERC in September 2023.

It added that the significant changes in these macroeconomic variables had constrained the abilities of meter providers to supply meters at the approved regulated price.

“The cost of prices of meters deployed under the MAP scheme is hereby deregulated to enable end-use customers to acquire meters from vendors of their choice based on competitive open market prices determined from transparent bidding frameworks,” the commission stated.

Consumers kick

In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumers Protection and Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, wondered why the Discos would be allowed to hike meter prices at a time when consumers are yet to come to terms with the Band A tariff hike.

According to Okorie, the Discos, aided by NERC, have been extorting Nigerians by failing to abide by the MAP policy which stipulated that consumers should get energy credit as a refund for meters paid for.

“When did the MAP scheme begin? How many consumers have purchased meters under MAP since it started? That policy says that if a consumer pays for a meter, he should get a refund through energy credit, how many consumers have been paid back? Why will this sector be only about collecting money from the consumers without service delivery, transparency and accountability? This is because nobody punishes or monitors the Discos. It still boils down to the consumer aspect of the sector not being taken seriously.

“Before they increased the price of meters, were they sensitive to the situation in the country? People cannot feed, there is no power supply, and you just increased meter prices. If you are increasing meter prices, is there no need to consider the time? They will blame the increase on forex, but before this time, Discos themselves could not provide these meters because they didn’t have the money. The meters service providers could not afford were now pushed to consumers to provide, but they are not refunding these consumers as the MAP policy states,” Okorie stated.

The consumer rights activist disclosed that during the 2022 tariff hike, NERC had approved for Discos, that for every bill a consumer pays, a certain percentage of the bill should be for the Meter Acquisition Fund.

The same consumer is the one acquiring the meter, yet still paying for the Meter Acquisition Fund. As a consumer you are already paying for the meter out of the bills you have paid since 2022,” he stated

Okorie added further, “Part of the bills Nigerians pay now is the money they said they are using to pay back the N59bn loan of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2020 when the National Mass Metering Programme was implemented. The money was given to Discos to give meters to Nigerians free. How many meters did each Disco give to Nigerians under that policy? Why will Nigerians who didn’t benefit from the loan be made to pay for it through their bills?

“The regulator is punishing consumers. What kind of regulation is NERC giving out? It is like NERC is doing things against the consumers to favour the Discos. Why will the consumer pay Meter Acquisition Fund and still be the one to buy a meter, what do they use that fund for? Why will the consumer pay for a meter under the MAP scheme, and he is not refunded? The process of refund is not clear to consumers.

The regulator is encouraging exploitation of consumers by the Discos. Is this thing a scam or a robbery? Is NERC set up to encourage the Discos to be cheating consumers? Should Nigerians be pushed to the wall to this extent? You will just be lording things over Nigerians, yet you cannot relocate with your meter, Discos will say it is their property. Is this not robbery?”

He asked President Bola Tinubu to investigate the performance of NERC and the Discos over the manner consumers are treated, saying NERC is encouraging the Discos to steal from Nigerians with no penalties enforced.

While many customers on social media complained over the meter price hike, some said they paid for meters in January but have yet to get the product almost five months later.

A customer of the Abuja Disco, Odumusi Emmanuel said “I paid for a Turbo meter since October 2023, and you are yet to deliver the meter”.

Going down memory lane, a consumer, Mansur Ahmed, said the government has turned citizens to a dairy cow they milk daily.

Ahmed recalled that a prepaid meter, which used to be free was initially sold to customers at N30,000 until it rose gradually to the current price.

“This is outrageous. From free to N30,000, N37,000, N63,000, N83,000, and now N145,000 for a single-phase meter,” he stated.

Misi Lawrence recalled, “In 2013, I just got back home from work, and I saw the defunct PHCN officials installing a prepaid meter at my place. I didn’t pay a dime. By 2017, I got a brand-new prepaid meter from AEDC. No payment. Why should Nigerians pay for meters? Aren’t they assets of the Discos?”

Ogbonna Ugorji wondered how a common man would be able to afford meters with the new price hike.

“Isn’t the cost of these meters outrageous? How will a poor Nigerian earning the minimum wage be able to afford these meters?” he asked.

NERC charged to enforce refund

Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria Consumer Protection Council, Kola Olubiyo, has urged NERC to enforce refunds for any customer who pays for a meter through the MAP scheme.

Olubiyo maintained that the international benchmark price of meters compared to the locally assembled ones is about 400 per cent different, saying the price of the local one is 400 per cent higher than the imported one.

This, he said, happened because of the need to promote local content and create jobs.

Olubiyo noted that local meter providers have requested that the price of the meter be deregulated so that it would be determined by the market, leading to healthy competition among vendors. He also called for liberalisation to allow customers to relocate with their meters to any part of the country.

“Looking at the service-level agreement between the distribution licensees, the commitment they have is that primarily, it is the residual responsibility of the Discos to meter customers. Customers should not be the ones buying meters. But, there are lots of toxic loans that have been taken by the power sector from the banks that have not been paid back. So, due to liquidity issues, nobody is willing to give out loans for metering.

“Going forward, if a customer buys a meter, there should be strict enforcement of the refund of the customer’s payment for the meter. A customer should start getting a refund with energy credit automatically within a month or two. NERC should be strict on the enforcement of the rules as per refund of customers’ investments. NERC should do more. There should be monitoring and evaluation.

“Under this mass metering programme, a lot of figures of meters were alleged to have been delivered, but the reality on the ground is that the meters of the network do not match the figures some of these Discos were claiming they have installed. These are systemic internal leakages,” he stated.

Disco react

Reacting to the complaint of customers, the spokesperson of the Ibadan Disco, Busolami Tunwase, noted that distributors don’t determine the prices of meters.

“We don’t fix meter prices. NERC regulates meter prices and they have liberalised the prices now. They have allowed vendors to be. So, it is what they can sell their meters at. We don’t produce meters. The MAP thing is a third-party thing regulated by NERC. It is not our making. The prices will be reviewed every month based on how the vendors get it.

The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors could not be reached for comments. The phone numbers of the association’s Executive Director, Research and Advocacy, Sunday Oduntan, were switched off as of the time of filing this report.

Also, the spokesperson of the NERC, Usman Arabi, could not be reached as he did not answer calls or messages.

FG targets 30,000MW

The Federal Government is targeting 30,000 megawatts of electricity by 2030, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has disclosed.

Adelabu, during a sectoral ministerial briefing in Abuja on Friday, Adelabu said the Federal Government has an energy transition plan to achieve zero-carbon emissions by 2060.

However, he said there is a mid-term target that by the year 2030, Nigeria would have achieved 30,000MW of power, 30 per cent of which should come from renewable energy.

“But we have a mid-term target of 2030, which targets 30,000MW of power by the year 2030, out of which 30 per cent, which is 9,000MW, should come from renewable energy,” Adelabu stated.

He added that a lot of practical steps have been taken to achieve the energy transition target, one of which is the construction of mini-grids across the nation. (The PUNCH)

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