On April 3, 2018 The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission plans to start enforcing the new unveiled Meter Asset Provider Regulations, 2018, a policy purported to close the ever-growing metering gap in the electricity supply industry.
The country’s metering gap which has increased to about 4.74 million, caused power consumers to be expectant of the new policy, calling it a solution for meter unavailability.
In its MAPR 2018, with Regulation No. NERC-R-112, which was released by the regulator and obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Wednesday, NERC said, “These regulations shall come into effect on the 8th day of March 2018.
“The provisions of these regulations shall be enforced by the commission from the 3rd day of April 2018.”
On Monday, NERC declared that power distribution companies are not solely responsible for providing meters to electricity consumers.
This was simultaneous with a new regulation that brought another class of operators in the power sector called Meter Asset Providers (MAP).
Dafe Akpeneye, the Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, of NERC, explained that MAPs would have provided meters to customers, along with other responsibilities.
The commission stated the objective of the MAPR 2018, regulations was to create a system to encourage the development of independent and competitive meter services in the electricity supply industry and eliminate estimated billing, by adding standard rules.
Other objectives included closing the metering gap through accelerated meter rollout, attracting private investments to the provision of metering services, and enhance revenue assurance in the power sector.
Talking on metering gap and obligations to power distribution companies, the MAPR 2018 stated that Discos were responsible for meeting their metering targets as specified by the commission from time to time.
It stated, “The metering gap for all distribution licensees was reported at 4,740,275 meters as of December 31, 2017. This is projected to significantly increase upon the conclusion of the ongoing customer enumeration exercise.”