Nigerian Government has banned electricity distribution companies and installers from collecting any form of payment for meters, warning that distribution companies (DisCos) officials and installers found extorting customers will be prosecuted.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, issued the warning on Thursday during an on-site inspection of newly imported smart meters at APM Terminals, Apapa, Lagos.
Adelabu said the meters were procured under the World Bank–funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme and must be installed for consumers free of charge, stressing that any demand for money would be treated as an offence.
Adelabu, who was received into the Apapa Port Command of the Nigerian Customs Service by Area Controller Emmanuel Oshoba, expressed happiness over the importation of another tranche of 500,000 smart meters under DISREP.
He said the meters would be given to all electricity customers, regardless of their 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.
“The main objective of coming here today is to carry out a physical on-site inspection of shipments of smart meters that the Federal Government has imported under the World Bank-funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme.
This programme is supporting the Nigerian Government to import a total of about 3.4 million meters in two batches; the first batch is 1.43 million meters, out of which we have received close to about a million meters. Currently, almost 150,000 meters have already been installed across all distribution companies in the country.
“And what we have today is close to 500,000 meters that we just received. They are all smart meters, and I believe that the journey of completely eliminating the meter gap in the Nigerian power sector has just begun,” Adelabu said, even as he expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of metering.