The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has reported that a total of 185,439 prepaid meters were installed across the country in the last quarter of 2024, reflecting a 0.19% increase from the 185,087 meters installed in Q3 2024.
According to NERC’s latest report, this surge in installations raised the national metering rate from 46.15% in Q3 to 46.57% in Q4, representing a +0.42 percentage point increase in metered electricity customers.
The breakdown of the installations showed that:
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96.56% (179,064 meters) were installed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework,
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4,076 meters were installed under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF),
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1,924 meters were installed under the Vendor Financed framework, and
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374 meters were installed under the DisCo Financed framework.
NERC also provided data on individual electricity distribution companies (DisCos). The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company led with 1.15 million metered customers out of 2.64 million customers, while Ikeja Electric had close to one million metered customers out of 1.28 million. Abuja DisCo had 911,000 metered customers out of its 1.19 million, while Benin DisCo recorded 714,000 metered customers out of 1.43 million. Yola DisCo, which has the lowest customer base, recorded 112 metered customers out of 823.
NERC emphasized that DisCos must adopt multiple metering frameworks, including the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations, as well as the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), to bridge the metering gap in Nigeria.
To protect unmetered customers from unfair billing, the commission stated that it continues to enforce monthly energy caps for all electricity feeders under each DisCo. This cap limits the maximum energy chargeable to unmetered customers based on actual energy consumption data from metered customers on the same feeder.
The commission further reiterated that accurate customer enumeration and widespread prepaid metering remain the best methods to enhance energy accounting and revenue collection in the power sector.
Additionally, NERC disclosed that in Q2 2024, it issued an Order for Tranche A of the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), directing DisCos to install meters for unmetered Band A customers using the first tranche of disbursement. By the end of 2024, over 4,000 Band A customers had been metered through the MAF scheme.
With the growing push for prepaid metering, NERC expects continued improvement in electricity transparency and billing accuracy across Nigeria.