Adelabu: FG Will Prosecute Discos, Installers Found Extorting Nigerians in W’Bank-funded Free Meters

• Seeks tip-off from whistle-blowers

•Inspects 1.5m DISREP smart meters at Apapa port

•Says sector revenue now pays 40% of energy cost, up from 10%, eases govt’s burden

•JICA’s 133/32kV transmission substation in Apapa for inauguration in March

Peter Uzoho

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has threatened to prosecute any electricity distribution company (Disco), meter manufacturer, or installer found extorting money from consumers in the course of installing the 3.4 million free smart meters under the World Bank-funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP).

The minister called on Nigerian power consumers to embrace the whistleblower option and provide useful information that would lead to catching Discos, manufacturers, or installers involved in such practices, stressing that the DISREP meters are free of charge.

Adelabu stated this yesterday in Lagos while inspecting containers loaded with 1.5 million smart electricity meters shipped to Apapa Port from China by Sanxing, the foreign manufacturer of the products.

The latest shipment, together with the one million currently being deployed, has raised the number of meters received so far under the programme to 2.5 million, even though actual installation has been slow, with only about 150,000 installed for consumers.

DISREP is a federal government initiative, supported by the World Bank, aimed at boosting the financial health and technical performance of the country’s electricity Discos by bridging the metering gap, ending estimated billing of consumers, minimizing commercial losses, and making the power sector attractive to investors.

During his Lagos visit, Adelabu covered three locations, including the inspection of the 1.5 million meters at the APM Terminal in Apapa Port; inspection of the 133/33kV transmission substation under construction in Apapa by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in partnership with the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN); and inspection of a new batch of DISREP meters undergoing testing at the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) Testing Station in Oshodi.

Nigeria’s power sector currently faces a metering deficit of about 7 million, a challenge that has defied all solutions put in place by successive governments, making it impossible for the sector to break even and attract new investors.

The current administration has put in place two metering programmes: DISREP by the World Bank and the N700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) funded by the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). The Tinubu-led government aims to close the 7 million metering gap over the next five years by installing about three million meters every year.

Adelabu said the government’s commitment to addressing the metering gap was fundamental to the sustainability of the power sector and to protecting electricity consumers, vowing that the government would not tolerate any partner undermining the free metering initiative through extortion of consumers during installation.

“But before I leave here, let me also say that I am reiterating that distribution and installation of meters under this programme is free for Nigerians. Nobody is expected to pay a dime for installation,” he said.

“Wherever you discover or notice that, please give us a tip-off. And let us just confirm some cases where such exists. The government will not stop in making sure that we prosecute such people using all forms of legal and regulatory instruments that we have. We will prosecute them, and we will ensure that they serve as a deterrent to others that have such evil plans,” Adelabu vowed.

He admitted that one of the major complaints of stakeholders in the power sector was the opaque estimated billing concept, informing that, in total, the DISREP programme was structured to inject 3.45 million meters into the electricity sector.

In addition to the port inspection, Adelabu said his visit to the NEMSA test station underscores another critical message that every meter deployed under DISREP must meet strict technical, safety, and quality standards.

Pointing out marked improvement in the Nigerian power sector under the current administration, the minister said that when the government assumed office about two and a half years ago, the sector revenue was only able to pay a measly nine to 10% of the energy cost. But, in reverse, he said the situation is now changing for the better as sector revenue is now paying at least 40% of the energy cost, thereby easing the burden on the federal government.

“About a year after we started the journey to migrate to the cost-reflective tariff, today the sector is paying at least 40% of the energy cost of the sector. This is some confidence injected into the sector,” he said.

“And the stakeholders believe that by the time we are done with the ongoing reforms and transformation of the sector, we should be having close to 80% of energy costs being covered by natural sector revenue, whereby government intervention in terms of subsidy would be very, very minimal. Which is why we need to endure this reform,” Adelabu stated.

He stated unequivocally that the federal government would not accept delays, excuses, or actions that undermine the metering objectives, saying distribution companies and all related service providers must comply with the rules of the DISREP initiatives and other national metering initiatives.

Noting that the pace of installation was not acceptable, the minister emphasized the need to accelerate the pace, adding that all stakeholders must come up with practical solutions and sincere resolutions to all the issues hindering faster installation of the meters.

He, however, clarified that not all components of the meters are imported, saying a certain percentage of the components are reserved for local manufacturers to produce in partnership with foreign manufacturers.

Also, at the JICA’s 133/32kV transmission substation in Apapa, the minister assured that the inauguration set for March this year remained sacrosanct, adding that the Ministry would do everything possible to ensure the completion of the project on schedule.