By Dare Olawin
Electricity consumers have kicked against the hike in the prices of prepaid meters as announced by the power distribution companies.
The Electricity Consumers Protection and Advocacy Centre told our correspondent that the electricity sector in the country seems to have been structured to inflict hardships on the masses.
After months of shutting down their meter application portals, some Discos over the weekend came out with the reviewed prices of the product.
The hiked prices followed the deregulation of meter sales by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, giving room for vendors and buyers to sell meters at prices convenient to both sides.
With the deregulated meter prices, a single-phase meter rose from N88,000 to an average of N147,000, depending on the vendor. This is about a 67 per cent increase for a single-phase meter.
In a notice to its customers, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company said the new meter prices were in line with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Order on Deregulation of meter prices for the Meter Asset Providers Scheme.
According to the EKEDC, electricity meters from Quantum Manufacturing and Metering Solution Limited are N127,601.26 for one phase, and N231,895.99 for a three-phase.
At Holley Metering Nig Limited, one-phase meter costs N147,640.01 while the price for a three-phase meter rose to N227,207.76.
Gospell Digital Technology Ltd sells one-phase meters at N139,750 as the price for the three-phase is N258,000.
Also, Gosslink Engineering Limited charges N167,700 for a single-phase meter and N258,000 for three-phase meters.
Our correspondent observed that Turbo Energy Ltd has the lowest price of N122,337.76 for a one-phase meter and N206,737.42 for a three-phase.
The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company on Friday disclosed that a single-phase smart meter is now N106,802.69, from N88,000. Similarly, the three-phase smart meter is now sold at N210,751.61 from N154,600 before.
The prices were as supplied by IBEDC meter vendor, Mojec Asset Management Company Limited.
The new meter prices took effect from May 23, according to the IBEDC. It was stated that a customer would have his meter installed within 10 working days after payment had been made.
The prices would also be reviewed monthly after a competitive bid process by the vendors, the distribution company added.
“Dear esteemed customer, kindly be notified that there has been a change in the price of meters effective May 23rd, 2024,” the IBEDC announced.
“Meters are to be installed in customer’s premises within 10 working days after payment.
“Cost of meters will be determined monthly after a competitive bid process by the vendors,” the notice read partly.
In the same vein, the Abuja, Benin, Port Harcourt and Kano Discos have all announced the reviewed prices of prepaid meters, choosing almost the same vendors.
Suppliers blame forex
The Chief Executive Officer of Femadec Group, Fola Akinola, recently said that power distribution companies shut down their meter application portals because the manufacturers and the DisCos were regularising the prices of meters to reflect the current economic realities.
Akinola, a vendor, said the review of the meter prices became necessary following the rise of the dollar against the naira.
“This has to do with foreign exchange. Once these foreign exchange issues are resolved, we will join the Federal Government in closing the metering gap by supplying meters with little margin on our cost.
“But in a situation where you fixed the price of meters when $1 was around N500, and now that $1 is over N1,300, you cannot sell the ones you have because you will not be able to replace them. People cannot bring in meters because of the exchange rate,” he stated.
Earlier, the NERC had released an order on the deregulation of meter prices under the MAP scheme.
It said the prices of meters were deregulated after asset providers and other operators requested a further review of meter prices in consideration of the significant changes in foreign exchange and inflation rates since the last price review of the prices of meters by NERC in September 2023.
It added that the significant changes in these macroeconomic variables had constrained the abilities of meter providers to supply meters at the approved regulated price.
“The cost of prices of meters deployed under the MAP scheme is hereby deregulated to enable end-use customers to acquire meters from vendors of their choice based on competitive open market prices determined from transparent bidding frameworks,” the commission stated.
Consumers kick
In an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, the Executive Director of the Electricity Consumers Protection and Advocacy Centre, Princewill Okorie, wondered why the Discos would be allowed to hike meter prices at a time when consumers are yet to come to terms with the Band A tariff hike.
According to Okorie, the Discos, aided by NERC, have been extorting Nigerians by failing to abide by the MAP policy which stipulated that consumers should get energy credit as a refund for meters paid for.
“When did the MAP scheme begin? How many consumers have purchased meters under MAP since it started? That policy says that if a consumer pays for a meter, he should get a refund through energy credit, how many consumers have been paid back? Why will this sector be only about collecting money from the consumers without service delivery, transparency and accountability? This is because nobody punishes or monitors the Discos. It still boils down to the consumer aspect of the sector not being taken seriously.
“Before they increased the price of meters, were they sensitive to the situation in the country? People cannot feed, there is no power supply, and you just increased meter prices. If you are increasing meter prices, is there no need to consider the time? They will blame the increase on forex, but before this time, Discos themselves could not provide these meters because they didn’t have the money. The meters service providers could not afford were now pushed to consumers to provide, but they are not refunding these consumers as the MAP policy states,” Okorie stated.
The consumer rights activist disclosed that during the 2022 tariff hike, NERC had approved for Discos, that for every bill a consumer pays, a certain percentage of the bill should be for the Meter Acquisition Fund.
“The same consumer is the one acquiring the meter, yet still paying for the Meter Acquisition Fund. As a consumer you are already paying for the meter out of the bills you have paid since 2022,” he stated
Okorie added further, “Part of the bills Nigerians pay now is the money they said they are using to pay back the N59bn loan of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2020 when the National Mass Metering Programme was implemented. The money was given to Discos to give meters to Nigerians free. How many meters did each Disco give to Nigerians under that policy? Why will Nigerians who didn’t benefit from the loan be made to pay for it through their bills?
“The regulator is punishing consumers. What kind of regulation is NERC giving out? It is like NERC is doing things against the consumers to favour the Discos. Why will the consumer pay Meter Acquisition Fund and still be the one to buy a meter, what do they use that fund for? Why will the consumer pay for a meter under the MAP scheme, and he is not refunded? The process of refund is not clear to consumers.
“The regulator is encouraging exploitation of consumers by the Discos. Is this thing a scam or a robbery? Is NERC set up to encourage the Discos to be cheating consumers? Should Nigerians be pushed to the wall to this extent? You will just be lording things over Nigerians, yet you cannot relocate with your meter, Discos will say it is their property. Is this not robbery?”
He asked President Bola Tinubu to investigate the performance of NERC and the Discos over the manner consumers are treated, saying NERC is encouraging the Discos to steal from Nigerians with no penalties enforced.
While many customers on social media complained over the meter price hike, some said they paid for meters in January but have yet to get the product almost five months later.
A customer of the Abuja Disco, Odumusi Emmanuel said “I paid for a Turbo meter since October 2023, and you are yet to deliver the meter”.
Going down memory lane, a consumer, Mansur Ahmed, said the government has turned citizens to a dairy cow they milk daily.
