Most licence holders in Nigeria’s local meter manufacturing sector are divesting into other lines of business following low patronage from both government and the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), LEADERSHIP can now reveal.
This development is threatening the National Mass Metering Programme (NMP) of the federal government.
LEADERSHIP reports that due to the lack of patronage, the two existing meter manufacturers have veered into new business models to keep their factory running.
While Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Ltd (MEMMCOL), Nigeria’s only Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), has ventured into meter manufacturing school through which it has raised grant from the Government of Germany, MOJEC International, through its subsidiary, Virtuitis Solaris, has entered into partnership with LandWey Investment Limited, a Nigerian real estate to develop the Isimi Lagos Solar Farm, a 50 MW solar photovoltaic power plant with the potential to scale to 100 MW, located in the heart of Lagos.
It is a renewable energy project aimed at promoting sustainable development and reducing the carbon footprint in Nigeria.
Group chief executive officer of MOJEC, Ms. Chantelle Abdul, informed LEADERSHIP that the project would cost about a $100 million.
In an interview with LEADERSHIP in Lagos, MEMMCOL chairman, Mr Kola Balogun, said that to further boost electricity meter usage and encourage local content in the sector, the federal government should increase its support and encouragement to indigenous meter manufacturers, to bridge the nation’s metering gap.
Balogun said that encouraging and allowing consumers to acquire meters on their own would spring up more investment in the metering industry.
The indigenous electricity meters manufacturer also called on the government to license meter manufacturers to bridge the metering gap, which according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) currently stands at over five million.
According to him, the federal government must continue to encourage local companies sufficiently or allow consumers to be able to buy meters on their own.
“If they can buy meters on their own, we will be able to invest. This means we should be licensed and most of the enterprises that are sustainable today are licensed enterprises. License meter manufacturers so that we will be able to reach more users,” he said.
He also advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and development banks to seek ways of directly funding manufacturers, saying that it is the surest path to reducing unemployment in the country.
His response supported a report just released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)l, which confirmed that estimated electricity customers stood at 5.91 million in Q3 2022, higher by 1.09 per cent from 5.85 million recorded in Q2 2022.
In his reaction, the president, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network (NCPN), Kunle Kola Olubiyo, said Nigeria should have a common feature that will make it universally adaptable to all the Distribution Licensees Network and easier for customers to just go to designated places and buy prepaid meters off the shelf with emphasis on locally manufactured prepaid meters.
On his part, convener of PowerupNig, Tayo Adegbemle, urged the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) to look into customer enumeration, adding that the data of customers connected to the national grid is nonexistent.
Adegbemle further criticized the NMMP basing their target on six million meters which, he said, was not right, noting after the first circa one million meters installed in Phase 0, there has been a lull in the takeoff of Phase 1.
“The last I heard was that a contract letter was issued in December 2022, but the price awarded for each Meter was way below market price, so meter manufacturers and vendors had to write for a review and since then nothing has happened,” he told our correspondent.
“On the ability of local meter manufacturers, this is not the first time I will be making this case. Germany, USA or any of these advanced countries, they always promote their local industries. We have at least two local manufacturers that can meet up with our demand if fully patronised.
How do you expect a company to survive when one Disco is owing almost N1 billion?” he queried.
“The federal government has been advised to empower these local manufacturers, and build a metering ecosystem. Let us have a common meter design for local market, and build a metering ecosystem that will meet our local demands,” he stated.
Though, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission recently said it would soon provide 4 million prepaid meters to electricity consumers in the country, there are estimated 5million unmetered customers in Nigeria today.
The NERC commissioner in charge of Consumer Affairs, Aisha Mahmud disclosed this at the Customers’ Complaints Resolution Meeting organised recently in Jos.
Mahmud, who described the shortage of meters in the country as one of the biggest problems currently facing the commission, hinted that the challenge would soon be a thing of the past as modalities had been put in place to provide the meters through the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) of the federal government.
“Aside many interventions in that regard, including the zero phase of the NMP where over one million meters were provided, the first phase of the initiative will make available four million meters to customers,” Mahmud said.
Mahmud, who said all preparations had been concluded for the mass metering programme, explained that funding for the project would come through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“We shall make available these meters to customers through the distribution companies and this is to show that the regulator is not just sitting but making efforts to see that all Nigerians have access to metres.
“So, we shall do all it takes as regulators to ensure that the issue of metering becomes a thing of the past. I strongly believe that with the plans ahead, we will overcome this challenge soon,” she said.
Mahmud also attributed the increasing rate of electricity tariff to inflation, rising exchange rate, cost of gas and labour, generation, and other economic realities in the country.
“Inflation has gone up to double digit, exchange rate, even the official rate, is crazy. Operators purchase most of their equipment abroad using the current exchange rate. The cost of labour keeps increasing, among other factors,” she explained.
On the meeting with customers, Mahmud said the commission was in Jos, Plateau State, to educate customers on their rights and listen to their complaints with a view to addressing them on the spot.
