Discos meter 51,631 customers in November, 7.3m others unmetered

A total of 51,631 power consumers were metered by electricity distribution companies in November 2023, as the number of unmetered customers moved to 7,313,039, the latest report on metering in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry showed.

 In the report, put together by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and obtained in Abuja on Saturday evening, the regulator stated that the total number of registered customers in the NESI as of November 2023 was 13,112,134.

Of this figure, the total number of metered customers was 5,799,095, while the metering rate was 44.23 per cent.

The report showed that though Ikeja Disco had the highest metering rate of 72.43 per cent, it was the only Disco that did not meter any customer in November 2023.

The other 10 power distribution companies provided meters for customers in their various franchise areas.

The report also revealed that the highest complaints in the NESI in November was the lack of meters, as this accounted for 62.23 per cent of the total complaints in the sector during the review month.

Other categories of complaints include billing (9.33 per cent), interruption (8.27 per cent), disconnection (0.97 per cent), voltage (1.63 per cent), load shedding (0.28 per cent), delay in connection (0.17 per cent), and others (17.13 per cent)

It stated that the total number of complaints received in November was 108.542, while 103,898 complaints were resolved, as the resolution rate was 95.72 per cent.

In November last year, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, declared that the short-term focus of the Federal Government in the power sector was to prioritise metering, electricity distribution and transmission to enhance power supply nationwide.

Adelabu, who spoke in Abuja, also highlighted the power sector strategy roadmap, emphasising a bottom-up approach to prioritise impact over the previous top-down strategies.

The minister was quoted in a statement from his ministry as saying, “We will focus on customers, down to distribution and transmission infrastructures in the short term, ensuring a significant portion of currently generated power reaches consumers.

 He also stated that attention would be given to the generation segment of the sector, particularly in distributed power (embedded) from renewable energy sources, while concurrently advancing baseload power through thermal and hydro plants in the medium to long term.

The minister spoke on regional energy potentials, citing solar energy in the North, small hydropower plants in the middle belt and South-West, hybridised with solar for maximum output.