BY ROTIMI DUROJAIYE
Nigerians will from next Monday pay for single phase and a three-phase meter by between 30.6 per cent and 32.3 per cent respectively, as the federal government through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has increased the price.
Chairman of the NERC, Sanusi Garba, made the announcement in a circular dated November 11, 2021.
Garba also stated that the new prices were exclusive of Value Added Tax.
The circular which hiked the single-phase meter from the current cost of N44,896.17 to a revised price of N58,661.69 and the three-phase meter from N82,855.19 to a revised rate of N109,684.36 was addressed to managing directors of all electricity Distribution Companies and all Meter Asset Providers.
Consequently, Nigerians will pay N13, 766 and N26, 829 more to get the 11 Discos to provide them with the single phase and three-phase meters, according to the new order.
The circular was marked NERC/REG/MAP/GEN/751/2 and was titled: ‘Review of the Unit Price of End-use Meters Under the Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations’.
The NERC also added that the prices were not inclusive of the 7.5 per cent VAT which the Discos and other meter providers are expected to include at the point of sale.
When the compulsory VAT is calculated along with the new prices, a single meter phase will now have N4, 400 included to sell at N63, 061.69 while a three phase meter will have additional N8, 227 for VAT to sell for N117, 911.36.
Cumulatively, the addition of the N18,166 and N35,227 plus VAT increases come ahead of the commencement of the Phase 1 of the federal government’s National Mass Metering Programme and the MAP, the current metering schemes in operation in the country.
“Pursuant to the provisions of the Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations, the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) notes the recent changes in macro-economic parameters and hereby approves an upward review of unit price of meters. Note that all costs are exclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT).
“In arriving at the approved unit price, the commission had, in particular only considered changes in foreign exchange and inflation since the last review of June 2020.
“This price review is subject to change upon the conclusion of the procurement process under Phase 1 of the National Mass Metering Programme. This price review is effective from 15th November 2021,” the NERC memo stated.
Nigerians had been confronted with several hikes in the prices of meters, with one of them taking place in June 2020 when the industry regulator increased the price by about 14 per cent.
Again, it increased in July of the same year, when the new 7.5 per cent VAT was introduced and on the back of falling naira value.
The pricing template indicated that in April 2020, a single phase meter sold for N39, 991.50 while a three phase meter went for N67, 055.85. But in June 2020, the single phase meter rose to N44, 896.17 while the three phase meter sold for N82, 855.19.
Statistics show that the number of unmetered customers across Nigeria has continued to rise.
In 2016, a metering status report from NERC showed that about three million of the registered accounts of customers were unmetered.
In 2017, the number grew as NERC reported that over four million unmetered customers were without meters, while in 2019 a NERC document showed that over five million Nigerians were unmetered.
In a bid to address the metering gap, in 2013 at the beginning of the privatisation of the electricity sector, the Credit Advance Programme for Metering Implementation scheme was launched, but was discontinued in 2016.
In April 2018, the MAP scheme was introduced by NERC, removing the burden of providing meters from the Discos, while in October last year, the federal government launched its mass metering programme meant to encourage the funding of local production and streamlining of importation of meters by designated providers and Discos.
