Electricity Consumers to Get Refund for Meter Payment – NERC

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Nwolu Obiajulu

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The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said that electricity consumers who already paid for meters under the Meter Asset Provider scheme will be refunded.

This was contained in an emailed response to Punch, through the commission’s Head of Public Affairs, Mr Michael Faloseyi.

The clarification followed the recent announcement by the Federal Government that six million meters would be distributed free of charge to consumers under the National Mass Metering Programme, MAP, prompting some consumers who already paid for meters to inquire if their money would be refunded.

Customers initially had two options for obtaining meter under the MAP scheme, which took effect on May 1, 2019. They either made an upfront payment or paid in instalments through metering service charge on a monthly basis.

Speaking on the new scheme, the NERC said that all the distribution companies had keyed into the new initiative, NMMP, noting, “Meter deployments are commencing in earnest across all Discos under the first phase of the NMMP.”

It added that the first rollout of meters had already commenced based on meters that were already available at the warehouses of the Discos/meter asset providers.

Commenting on whether the consumers would bear the cost of meters later, the commission said, “Given that all prudent costs are borne by customers, the full cost of metering would form part of the tariff once the industry assumes full cost recovery.

“All customers who made payment for meters under the MAP scheme would be refunded. The modality for the refund of the meter’s cost funded by the customers either through upfront payment or amortised payments is being worked out.”