The protracted electricity metering crisis in Nigeria has taken a fresh turn with an ongoing standoff between the Federal Government and Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos).
This friction over meter installation has left millions of unmetered consumers trapped in a cycle of “arbitrary” estimated billing.
The $500 Million Metering Dispute
At the heart of the dispute is the rollout of smart prepaid meters under the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP). This $500 million World Bank-funded initiative aims to close Nigeria’s five-million-meter gap. While the government insists these meters must be distributed to consumers for free, DisCos are pushing back, citing concerns over installation costs and long-term financial recovery.
FG’s No Charges for Meter Installation
During a recent inspection of imported smart meters in Lagos, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, announced that meters under the DISREP programme must be provided and installed at no cost to consumers across all tariff bands.
The Minister warned that it is now a criminal offence for any DisCo official or installer to collect money from consumers. “These meters are to be installed and distributed to consumers free of charge,” Adelabu declared, adding that offenders would face public prosecution.
Alarming Slow Pace of Distribution
The DISREP scheme targets the deployment of 3.4 million metres in two phases. Minister Adelabu revealed that while approximately one million metres from the first batch of 1.43 million have been received, only about 150,000 have actually been installed nationwide.
The Minister cautioned that unless installation is fast-tracked, the backlog of unallocated meters could swell to 2.5 million as further batches arrive.
Funding and Sustainability Concerns
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, reaffirmed that the government has already paid contractors for both the supply and installation of these meters. He clarified that the World Bank loan facility carries a 9 per cent interest rate with a 20-year repayment period, making it significantly more sustainable than commercial borrowing.
“The meters and installation are provided free of charge to customers, and the costs have been paid to the contractor. Revenue will be recovered through the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO), regulated by NERC,” Gbeleyi stated.
However, DisCos have reportedly argued that the costs of logistics—including transportation, labour, and technical materials—remain unfunded. They claim that absorbing these costs as “allowable capex” over a 10-year recovery period could cripple their fragile balance sheets.
DISREP is part of other metering initiatives, including the National Mass Metering Programme and the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) under the Presidential Metering Initiative, to accelerate the closing of Nigeria’s metering gap.
“The plan is to quickly close that gap. These meters are for everybody. They are for Nigerians. Priority is on unmetered customers,” Gbeleyi stated.
Speaking in an interview with Pinnacle Daily, Executive Director of PowerUp Nigeria, Adetayo Adegbemle, expressed concerns about the reported pushback by DisCos over the free meter distribution to customers declared by the Federal Government.
He said the DISREP initiative comes after years of several attempts to close the metering gap, wondering what DisCos have done to resolve the crisis that has lingered for more than a decade since the power sector was privatised.
“I understand the argument of the DisCos is about who will bear the cost of procurement and installation. However, what have they done over the years by themselves to solve the metering problem?” Adegbemle asked.
The power consumer rights advocate said the nine per cent offered by the World Bank for the loan under DISREP is the lowest anyone can get in the world.
“The loan offer is at nine per cent; there is nowhere else in the world that you can get a loan at that rate. DisCos cannot go to the market and take a loan at that rate,” he stated.
He said it is an opportunity for the DisCos to invest in overhauling the system for viability.
Clarifying the “Free” vs. “Paid” Schemes
Sunday Oduntan, CEO of the Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors (ANED), clarified that the “free” status applies only to meters rolled out under the World Bank-funded DISREP programme.
Oduntan, who spoke in an interview with TVC on Friday, said people misunderstood the minister on the free meter offer.
According to him, it is only metres rolled out under the DISREP programme that are free. He noted that meters distributed under other schemes, like MAP, which is still ongoing, are paid for by customers to be recovered over time through energy credits.
“Only the meters brought under the World Bank programme are for free,” Oduntan stated. “We have other schemes on metering that have been ongoing since long before the time of President Muhammadu Buhari, such as MAP (Meter Asset Providers), where customers willingly pay for their meters and get metered. And even their own money is refunded over time.”
Consumers: The Victims of “Crazy Billing”
At the receiving end of the standoff between the government and the DisCos are electricity consumers.
Despite years of policy promises and regulatory deadlines, a significant portion of electricity users—particularly in urban low-income areas and rural communities—still do not have prepaid meters. Instead, they receive monthly bills based on estimates that many describe as arbitrary, inflated, and disconnected from actual consumption.
According to the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) third-quarter 2025 report, only 55.37 per cent of the 12.03 million active registered customers are metered, leaving 5.36 million households at the mercy of estimated billing.
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For households already strained by rising food prices, transport costs, and fuel expenses, estimated billing has become a source of constant anxiety. Consumers complain of being charged for power they did not use, billed during prolonged outages, or threatened with disconnection if they fail to pay contested amounts.
“I’m barely home, yet my bill keeps increasing every month,” said a Lagos resident, Emeka Udeh.
Another Lagos resident and mother of three, Mrs Eucharia Odu, lamented that sometime in 2025, electricity supply to her apartment in Isolo was disconnected by some officials of Ikeja DisCo who claimed to be on a drive for recovery of old debt. Mrs Odu said they spent one month trying to resolve the problem without electricity, and yet were forced to pay the electricity bill for that month even when they never had any supply. This came after they had settled the old outstanding and also paid the reconnection fee.
“We were made to pay the electricity bill even when our light was off for a whole month, as NEPA people cut our light because of an old debt we were not responsible for,” Odu stated in a chat with Pinnacle Daily.
“For all customers under the estimated billing system, all they do is send people bills at the end of every month, irrespective of whether electricity was supplied or not. They also do not consider what could be the exact or approximate amount of energy consumed,” she added.
Regulatory Failure and Weak Enforcement
Regulators, including the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, have repeatedly warned DisCos against estimated billing and imposed caps on what unmetered customers can be charged. However, enforcement remains weak, and consumer advocacy groups say the penalties have not translated into meaningful relief on the ground.
In April last year, NERC announced that it imposed over a ₦628 million fine on eight electricity DisCos for failing to comply with monthly energy caps for unmetered customers between July and September 2024.
“The rules exist, but compliance is poor,” said an energy rights advocate, who didn’t want to be named. “As long as DisCos can rely on estimated billing for cash flow, there is little incentive to aggressively meter customers.”
The metering crisis also undermines trust in the power sector reforms launched more than a decade ago. Metering is widely seen as critical not only for consumer protection but also for improving revenue assurance, reducing losses, and attracting investment into the electricity value chain.
In a chat with Pinnacle Daily, an official of one of the DisCos in the South West, who spoke under anonymity, said even though meter distribution is free in the company, they still collect some money from customers during installation.
“Currently, the company is giving out meters to only Band B. It is free, but you know, customers pay some money during installation,” he stated.
Experts warn that unless the Federal Government and DisCos resolve their differences and prioritise transparent, large-scale meter deployment, public frustration will continue to grow. Some fear it could fuel increased energy theft, non-payment, and resistance to future tariff adjustments.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist, scholar and analyst of socioeconomic issues in Nigeria and Africa. He is skilled in energy reporting, business and economy, and holds a master's degree in mass communication.
