The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) decision to deregulate Meter Asset Providers (MAP) was celebrated as a crucial step towards addressing the country’s ongoing metering gap crisis.
However, this silver bullet has come with a price, and not just figuratively. The soaring cost of prepaid meters has added a new layer of burden for the average Nigerian household, making the dream of escaping the trap of estimated billing feel like an increasingly distant hope.
For millions of Nigerians, the sharp rise in metering costs from about N80,000 to over N200,000 in just one year has become as burdensome as the problem it was meant to solve: eliminating estimated billing.
Four months ago, NERC introduced a promising policy to deregulate both meter prices and providers, embracing a willing-buyer, willing-seller system aimed at opening up the market. This move was intended to empower customers, allowing them to obtain meters from any approved vendor without relying on the DisCos.
While this policy appeared commendable on paper, it has brought new challenges.
The most pressing of these is the increase in meter prices, exacerbated by the prevailing economic conditions and rising inflation.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of customers on estimated billing has surged from 5.83 million in Q4 2023 to 6.43 million in Q1 2024, marking a significant 10% rise.
These figures represent millions of households striving to escape the cycle of overbilling and other abuses by their distribution companies, only to find that the path to obtaining a prepaid meter has become even more difficult.
