Electricity distribution companies (DisCos) will begin the process of distributing meters to customers today under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulation enacted by the regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), but those who pay for meters will not own them and may not move them.
Customers have raised concerns on whether they will be allowed to pay in instalment for the meters and if they would be able to take them along with them when they move away from their residence.
NERC has said that customers would have the option of paying for the meters in instalment but some third-party investors who have been outsourced the task of providing the meters by the DisCos have said a prompt payment for the meters will help them meet their obligation to their bankers.
“Customers can either pay outright for a meter, or they can pay for the meter over a 10-year period via a monthly metering services charge for the meter and the associated metering services that would be provided by the MAP to the customers,” said Odion Omonfoman, managing director, New Hamshire Capital Ltd, whose firm is one of the MAPs for Ikeja DisCo.
“For customers who pay outright for a meter, the DisCo owns the meter. For customers who pay in instalment for the meter, the MAP owns the meter until the customer fully pays for the meter. In this instance, the ownership of the meter reverts to the DisCo,” Omonfoman said.
Yet, the process is not automatic.

Isaac Anyaogu is an Assistant editor and head of the energy and environment desk. He is an award-winning journalist who has written hundreds of reports on Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, energy and environmental policies, regulation and climate change impacts in Africa. He was part of a journalist team that investigated lead acid pollution by an Indian recycler in Nigeria and won the international prize - Fetisov Journalism award in 2020. Mr Anyaogu joined BusinessDay in January 2016 as a multimedia content producer on the energy desk and rose to head the desk in October 2020 after several ground breaking stories and multiple award wining stories. His reporting covers start-ups, companies and markets, financing and regulatory policies in the power sector, oil and gas, renewable energy and environmental sectors He has covered the Niger Delta crises, and corruption in NIgeria’s petroleum product imports. He left the Audit and Consulting firm, OR&C Consultants in 2015 after three years to write for BusinessDay and his background working with financial statements, audit reports and tax consulting assignments significantly benefited his reporting. Mr Anyaogu studied mass communications and Media Studies and has attended several training programmes in Ghana, South Africa and the United States

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