The Bureau of Public Enterprises, an agency of the Federal Government, has said that electricity consumers will pay for the ongoing free meter installation through their tariffs.
The disclosure comes amid a row with electricity distribution companies over who is responsible for covering the cost of the prepaid meters being rolled out under World Bank–funded programmes.
The PUNCH reports that the Federal Government and electricity distribution companies have been at loggerheads over who bears the cost of prepaid meters being rolled out by the Federal Government.
The disagreement erupted after the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, directed that prepaid meters procured under the World Bank–funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme must be installed for electricity consumers free of charge, warning that any official or installer found collecting money would be prosecuted.
However, electricity distribution companies expressed doubt over the directive, insisting that although customers may not pay cash upfront, the meters would still be paid for by the DisCos over a period of 10 years, raising concerns about cost recovery, installation expenses, and the financial implications for operators.
Reacting to the controversy, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Ayo Gbeleyi, dismissed claims that the DisCos were being asked to pay for the meters over a 10-year period, regretting that the Federal Government’s free metering programme was receiving pushback from the DisCos.
Speaking in Lagos at the N501bn bond issuance signing ceremony to settle power sector debt, Gbeleyi expressed concern that the DisCos were giving a wrong narrative as far as the free metering initiative was concerned.
Addressing claims by DisCos that they were expected to repay the cost of the meters over a decade, the BPE boss said such assertions were inaccurate and misleading. He noted that meter costs are embedded in tariffs over time, just like transformers, feeders, and other investments of the DisCos.
“We’ve had pushback where some have said, ‘No, the DisCos are paying for the meters over 10 years.’ The truth is, every component of investment that goes into the DisCos gets recouped through the tariff structure. So, whether it is a feeder pillar, whether it is a transformer, or whether it is a meter, we as consumers will ultimately pay for those pieces of equipment through the tariff design,” he said.
Gbeleyi’s clarification shows that meters are not given to customers at no cost, as they would pay for them through their tariffs. He added that the DisCos often failed to mention the concessional nature of the Federal Government’s intervention, which he said was to be repaid over 20 years.
“However, what they are not telling you is that the Federal Government’s major intervention is indeed one of the best loan transactions today extended to the power sector. It is a 20-year loan facility. It comes with a five-year principal moratorium and a two-year interest moratorium to the DisCos. We have never seen any capital lending to that sector of that magnitude in the history of the power sector in Nigeria,” Gbeleyi said.
He insisted that suggestions that DisCos were paying for the meters were unfounded. “So, for anyone to then suggest that they are paying over 10 years, or that the DisCos are paying for it, that’s absolutely not the case. So we are taking this opportunity to provide that clarity to Nigerians,” he added.
According to him, the Federal Government had embarked on the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme, which is a $500m loan intervention from the World Bank to assist distribution companies to strengthen their infrastructure and improve governance, as well as enhance liquidity.
“In this regard, a total of about 3.22 million meters are being made available to the DisCos,” Gbeleyi said.
Clarifying the status of the metering initiative, he said that the meters were being given to consumers free of charge.
“At this juncture, permit me to also elaborate and clarify that, last week, together with the Minister of Power, we were at the Apapa Port to inspect the recent batch of meters that are coming to the country. In total, out of the initial contract of about 1,437,500 units of meters, we have received over 600,000 meters. And we have also installed close to 75,000 meters, free of charge indeed, to consumers.”
Gbeleyi stressed that electricity consumers were not required to pay for the meters, noting that the intervention was targeted at addressing Nigeria’s wide metering gap.
“Let me reiterate that customers are not meant to pay for these meters. The meters are meant to be given, especially to the unmetered customers. We have about 5.9 million unmetered customers in the country today,” he said.
According to him, the World Bank–supported programme would only partially bridge the gap, with another intervention already in place to complement it.
“In order to bridge that gap, there is a programme to implement 3.22 million meters. There is another programme that is being led by the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy under the Presidential Metering Initiative, which will also deliver another batch of 2.61 million meters to the DisCos,” Gbeleyi stated.
Earlier, power distribution companies had raised concerns over the minister’s directive, describing it as politically motivated and lacking proper stakeholder consultation.
Operators, who spoke anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said Adelabu’s announcement failed to consider the role of meter installers and manufacturers, as well as the question of who would bear installation costs.
Last Thursday, the Federal Government banned electricity distribution companies and installers from collecting any form of payment for meters, with Adelabu issuing the warning during an on-site inspection of newly imported smart meters at APM Terminals, Apapa, Lagos.
The minister said the meters were procured under the World Bank–funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme and must be installed for consumers free of charge, regardless of their tariff band.
“I want to mention that it is unprecedented that these meters are to be installed and distributed to consumers free of charge—free of charge! Nobody should collect money from any consumer. It is an illegality. It is an offence for the officials of distribution companies across Nigeria to request a dime before installation; even the indirect installers cannot ask consumers for a dime. It has to be installed free of charge so that billings and collections will improve for the sector,” Adelabu said.
Despite this, DisCo operators maintained that the cost burden would still fall on them over time. They said the meters tagged as free by the Federal Government would still be paid for by the DisCos within a period of 10 years, adding that it was unclear why DisCos were expected to bear installation costs.
“Those meters you see, someone has to pay for them, and the government expects the DisCos to bear the cost of the so-called free meters. They said the DisCos can pay it over 10 years,” an official with a distribution company stated, but Gbeleyi described this as untrue.
The official warned that such costs must be recognised in tariff calculations. “When you ask the DisCos to pay for any capital expenditure, we call it allowable capex. You have to allow it when computing their tariffs; otherwise, it makes their balance sheets toxic,” the source said.
Another operator questioned the role of installers in the arrangement. “We need to know that meter installers are not staff of the DisCos. They are already asking who will pay them if the consumers do not pay. Did the minister consider all those? You said the people should not pay the installers; who should pay them? We, the DisCos, are not the ones installing meters,” the operator said.
The operators described Adelabu’s comments as populist. “The statement was just a populist statement from a politician. We are not sure if the President sent him that message. He said everything should be free; where is the position of cost recovery? Anything you do in the power sector, you have to first consider who bears the cost. Somebody has to bear the cost to avoid debt piling up,” one source stated.
They added that wider consultation was needed to avoid misleading the public. “The government ought to sit with the DisCos and the meter manufacturers to seek advice if the plan is to make sure the people don’t bear any cost, and we will come up with our various contributions.
“But instead of doing that, the government would go and make unrealistic promises to the public. For instance, the meters are coming in batches, but you have made the masses believe that there are enough meters for everyone. That’s not the reality,” another source said.
The standoff testifies to the persistent tensions between regulators and operators in the power sector, even as the Federal Government insists that the metering intervention is designed to protect consumers and improve billing efficiency.
punch.ng
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