FG Orders Discos to Replace Phased-Out Meters Amid Ongoing Upgrade
The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has directed electricity distribution companies (Discos) to replace any meter phased out as part of a meter upgrade process. This comes amid concerns that some older meters, such as Unistar meters, will soon be obsolete due to technological advancements, rendering them unusable for vending electricity.
While there is no official directive yet to phase out Unistar meters, NERC clarified that the devices will soon be out of operation because they cannot be upgraded to handle the new Token Identifier Rollover system. Vice Chairman of NERC, Musiliu Oseni, told The PUNCH that once the meters are phased out, the Discos must ensure seamless replacement to avoid disruptions to customers’ metering needs.
“Operationally, if they say those meters are not upgradable, they can decide to phase them out. But as they remove the meters, based on the rule, they must replace them,” Oseni said, emphasizing that no customer should be subjected to estimated billing or denied electricity during the phase-out process.
Oseni noted that Discos could offer replacements through various financing mechanisms, such as vendor financing or the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework, which allows customers to purchase meters with a promise of reimbursement. He stressed the importance of ensuring that customers are refunded if they are required to buy new meters.
The push to replace outdated meters comes as Nigeria faces a seven million metering gap, with some Discos setting deadlines, such as a November 14 cutoff, for customers to obtain new meters.
Meanwhile, the All Electricity Consumer Protection Forum has called on Ikeja Electric and Eko Electricity Distribution Company to suspend their plans to decommission older meters until they receive formal regulatory approval from NERC. The forum expressed disappointment over the lack of concrete replacement plans for the meters, warning that the current approach could lead to unnecessary hardship for electricity consumers.
In a letter dated October 15, 2024, the forum’s National Coordinator, Adeola Samuel-Ilori, urged the Discos to ensure that any phase-out is done in a way that does not negatively impact consumers or their access to electricity.
