The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that it has disbursed the sum of N47.83 billion for the procurement and installation of 856,026 electricity meters across the country under the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) in the scheme’s Phase 0.
The NMMP is a metering initiative introduced by the Federal Government geared towards mass metering of Nigerians by providing loan facilities to the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) for the procurement of meters for its customers; and the local meter Manufacturers, for the manufacturing and assembling of meters.
This disclosure is contained in a communique issued by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, after the 140th MPC meeting held on Monday, January 24, 2022, and Tuesday, January 25, 2022.
The committee also noted the improved collections by electricity distribution companies as a result of increased meter installations.
Emefiele in the communique said the apex bank released N274.33billion to power sector players, as part of its effort to support the sector under the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Partner Assurance Facility (NBET-PAF).
The above-mentioned funds released to the power sector players is in addition to the N20.58 billion released to the DisCos under the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilization Facility-Phase 2 (NEMSF-2).
The CBN boss pointed out that the apex bank released an additional sum of N3 billion to further support the development of enabling infrastructure in the gas industry.
Emefiele said, “To further support the development of enabling infrastructure in the gas industry, the bank released additional N3 billion for the augmentation of an existing infrastructure, bringing the cumulative disbursements under the intervention facility for National Gas Expansion Programme to N42.2billion for six projects.”
The NMMP is expected to ensure that consumers are billed appropriately for the electricity they consume by installing meters free of charge in household and business premises.
The scheme which has helped increase private sector participation through investing in local meter assembly, manufacturing and installation, is also expected to assist in reducing collection losses, while at the same time, increase financial flows to achieve 100% market remittance obligation of the DisCos.
Recall that in November 2021, the CBN reported that it had so far disbursed the sum of N47.66 billion to Electricity Distribution Companies under its mass metering scheme. The CBN Governor added that DisCos have also received another N37.6 billion for the Nigeria Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF-2).
Over the last few years, the CBN has adopted an aggressive policy in its intervention in the power sector.