The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has granted approval for an upward adjustment in the prices of prepaid meters within the country.
The announcement was contained in a circular released and dated September 5, 2023. It was signed by the Chairman, Sanusi Garba, and the Commissioner of Legal, Licencing, and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye.
The commission has announced revised prices for prepaid meters as follows, single-phase prepaid meter will now be priced at N81,975.16k, up from the previous N58,661.69k, while the cost of a three-phase prepaid metre has been raised to N143,836.10k from the previous N109,684.36k.
As explained in the circular, the motivation behind the price adjustment was to create an equitable and sensible metre pricing system that would be fair to both the Metre Asset Providers (MAPs) and end-user customers.
Some of the reasons highlighted by the price adjustment are; “To ensure MAP’s ability to recover reasonable costs associated with meter procurement and maintenance while ensuring that their pricing structure allows for a viable return on investment. To evaluate the affordability of meter services for consumers, aiming to prevent excessive pricing that could burden end-users and to ensure that MAPs are able to provide meters to end-use customers in the prevailing economic realities.”
The implication is that electricity consumers will have to pay an additional N23,313.64 for a Single-phase meter, which is a 40% increment and N34,151.76 to get a Three-phase meter, representing a 31% increase.
The announcement is also coming at the back of a directive by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) through its General Manager for Finance and Management, Abdulkadir Shettima that customers with faulty meters are eligible for prompt repairs within 2 days and at no extra cost.
