The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission 0n Wednesday revealed that over 50 per cent of Nigerians do not have meters thereby reducing revenue generation potentials of distribution company(DISCO).
This was made known by Sam Amadi, the Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Commission (NERC) during his presentation to the senate adhoc committee on power.
He said that the lack of meters which is a major problem has left many Nigerians saddened. He added that one megawatt of power cost as much as $1 million to highlight how expensive it is to generate power.
He said “We are working hard so that none of the discos fail. Consumers are very angry about lack of metre.Only less than 50 per cent of Nigerians have meters.
“Its one of the major problems. In the past decade, we did not invest in metering.
“A moderator brought the idea of paying for meter since customers cannot wait too long, the customers can pay for their own meter but when the new owners came, they had to take some time to understand the way it goes.
“The tarrifs are more cost effective, he agreed that metering is the major problem in the power sector because it is more expensive although it will help the country save the revenue,”he said.
In addition, he stated that another major problem in the power sector is the capacity growth.
“Each time we hit 4500MW people always say that the electricity has improved and there is always a level of comfort for customers.
“We also want to put more pressure on the distribution companies and they want to see Mgbede generation.
“What has delayed many of this companies up until now is because the licenses could not get financed.
“In the next 20 years we will be able to have about 2000MW, “he said.
He concluded by saying that the power sector is looking getting better as there is need for improvement in capital investment which should come from the private sectors.
“Our base is to have 200 MW increase every year. One megawatts power is equals to $1 million. There is really need for massive capital investment and it should come from the privatised sectors,” said Dr Amadi
Robert Dicterman, the MD/CEO of Enugu DISCO also added the the country needs a stonger enlightenment on the the power billing system. He said it is because sometimes the power is tapped from other sources therby making consumers pay twice of what they use.
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