By Victor Ezeja
Prepaid meter deployment in Nigeria has been hampered by high costs, systemic corruption, and inefficiencies, leaving millions of consumers at the mercy of an arbitrary and exploitative estimated billing system.
Since the privatisation of the power sector more than a decade ago, the Federal Government has continued to adopt measures to close the metering gap, but it remains elusive.
Industry stakeholders and analysts have repeatedly pointed out that metering all consumers is a major step towards boosting revenue collections, commercial viability of the power sector, and ensuring efficiency of electricity supply.
Slow Progress and Massive Metering Gap
The Federal Government had in 2020, launched the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) aimed at increasing the metering rate and eliminating arbitrary estimated billing. The project was expected to deploy about six million meters nationwide in three Phases (0, 1, and 2) by the end of 2023, to reduce the number of unmetered electricity consumers in Nigeria.
However, as of 31 March 2025, only about 6.468 million out of the 13.767 million registered electricity customers (46.98 per cent) across the 12 distribution companies (DisCos) are metered, according to the first quarter 2025 report released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). This means approximately 6.5 million electricity consumers are still subjected to estimated billing.
The price of prepaid meters in Nigeria has jumped by over 150 per cent in the last two years following changes in the macroeconomic conditions, such as naira depreciation and high inflation in the country.
The NERC had, in September 2023, approved about 40 per cent increase in the price of prepaid meters in the country. A single-phase meter, which was sold at N58,661.69k then, was increased to N81,975.16k (a 40 per cent increment), while a three-phase meter was raised to N143,836.10k from N109,684.36k (representing a 31 per cent increase).
NERC had then emphasised that the upward adjustment was to ensure fair and reasonable pricing of meters to both Meter Asset Providers (MAPs) and end-use customers.
In May 2024, NERC introduced deregulation of meter prices, a significant policy shift under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme for customers. The policy was targeted at offering customers options of authorised vendors with competitive meter prices.
Despite the deregulated metering scheme and funding from the Federal Government, DisCos have continued to record slow progress in metering customers across the country.
Last November, the Federal Government received a $500 million credit from the World Bank to help DisCos improve their financial and technical capacity. The majority of the funds were supposed to be spent on metering.
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The World Bank had, in 2023, announced a similar scheme to provide 1.2 million meters at a cost of $155 million. Another N21 billion was approved by the NERC for metering. This was arranged through the Meter Asset Financing (MAF) programme, which is funded by end-user tariffs.
According to the NERC annual report for 2024, the approved fund was distributed pro rata among the DisCos based on their contribution to the MAF scheme at the cut-off date.
The current administration allocated N700 billion to the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), which is partially funded by the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), and N59.3 billion by the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
However, a look at the NERC’s data over the years reveals slow progress in the deployment of prepaid meters. The DisCos metered only 542,738 customers in 2024, leaving over seven million without prepaid meters. That was a significant drop from 609,585 customers metered in 2023.
According to the NERC annual report, Ikeja Disco, with 137,261 (representing 23.99 per cent), had the highest number of meter installations in 2024, followed by Ibadan (108,155), and Abuja (80,932). Kano (3,156) and Yola (2,586) DisCos had the lowest number of meter installations in 2024.
In the first quarter of 2025, 187,194 end-user customers were metered across all the DisCos, with Ibadan, Ikeja and Abuja DisCos still recording the highest number of meter installations.
The report showed that the majority (79.44 per cent ) of the customers metered in Q1 2025 were under the MAP framework, 19.65 per cent were metered under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF), while little came from the DisCo Financed framework (0.57 per cent) and Vendor Financed framework (0.33 per cent).
The fact that more than half of registered electricity customers are still unmetered as of the first quarter of 2025 highlights the challenges faced by consumers under the estimated billing system.
An analysis of the data on metering over the years shows that with the rate of distribution, it may take over a decade to close the metering gap, raising concerns about the impact of estimated billing on electricity consumers.
Are Customers Supposed to Pay for Meters?
Questions have been raised over the years about whose responsibility it is to provide meters. The NERC has consistently maintained that, in line with the electricity laws, metering all electricity consumers remains the responsibility of DisCos even under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) Regulations 2018.
The Commission has also stressed that electricity consumers are supposed to be refunded money paid for acquiring prepaid meters through energy credit. It issued a statement in the last quarter of last year mandating DisCos to publish details of refunds made to consumers so far. The DisCos have apparently been reluctant to comply with the order.
Corruption and Mismanagement
Funds allocated for metering programmes like the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) have been allegedly misappropriated. The CBN froze 157 accounts of meter providers over alleged diversion of intervention funds, though investigations were later stalled.
The Ninth National Assembly had made attempts to make a law that criminalises estimated billing, but later abandoned it.
DisCos benefit from estimated billing, which guarantees revenue even without power supply, reducing their incentive to meter customers.
Consumer advocacy groups and stakeholders have been vocal in urging the NERC to take proactive measures to bridge the metering gap in Nigeria’s electricity sector. While stating that estimated billing is exploitative, they have urged the electricity regulator to impose a deadline on DisCos for compliance to ensure universal metering.
Adetayo Adegbemle, a consumer advocate and Executive Director, PowerUp Nigeria, criticized past interventions like the National Mass Metering Programme for lacking accountability and urged private-sector involvement with clear cost-recovery mechanisms.
Adegbemle suggested what he called “ meter-franchising,” whereby investors will be allocated feeders to meter customers with a guarantee of payback from tariff charges.
“It is more like the present Meter Assets Providers, but in this case, investors can take up a Feeder on a Franchise and install Meters to every Customer on the Feeder. They can recoup their money via recharge,” he stated.
Commenting on challenges in metering of customers, spokesperson of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Sunday Oduntan, said the government has tried various schemes in an attempt to close the gap, but like the privatisation of the power sector, it is still a journey yet to reach the destination. He called for a collective effort of all stakeholders to address it.
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.
