Business
EEDC To Distribute 200,000 Pre-paid Meters
The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) says it has taken delivery of over 200,000 units of pre-paid meters for distribution to its customers.
Head, Communication Department of the company, Mr Chubvuemeka Ezeh said this in an interview with newsmen in Awka last Friday.
Ezeh said the company had enough metres to install for customers and appealed for calm and understanding as due process had to be followed in distributing them.
He said the investment of N10 billion into the metering project \vas a demonstration of EEDC’scommitmcnt to have all customers in the zone metered.
The communication officer said the amount was a far cry from what was required to metre its over 700,000 customers, adding that Distribution companies needed support to succeed.
“We are presently running our in-house metering process in which we have committed over N10 billion but that has not scratched the surface because of the numher of customers on the network.
“We do not have the enormous financial muscle to metre every customer at the same time but consciously and gradually, we are making progress.
“So far, we have tanker delivery of over 200,000 units of prepaid metres and as we push them out more are being supplied; we have a good number of metres to give out but we want customers to be patient.
“We are aggressively metering our customers and as a way of pursuing the project most utility vehilcles in our offices have been mobilised for the metering staff and in February, 4.000 units were installed.” he said.
Eze hreiterated that prepaid metres were free and warned customers on the EEDC network not to give anybody money to get the device as it would not yield any special benefit.
He urged those seeking installation of prepaid metres to apply through the EEDC website and stay on the queue until it was their turn.
Ezeh also said it was unfortunate that while the company was making effort to metre people, some customers were rejecting prepaid metres and others bypassing it.
He said the regulation in the industry did not allow customers to buy directly from prepaid metre manufacturers or dealers.
Ezeh said there was the need to review the tariff system in the power sector as the prevailing Multi- Year Tariff Order (MYTO) module no longer allowed for cost reflective billing.
“MYTO is not cost reflective; it was designed when dollar was about N198 or so but now dollar is about N360, what that means is that we buy power at N198 and sell at N360 depending on the prevailing rate of dollar.
Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose to N83.26 trillion in June 2026 from N81.04 trillion in May, signifying a positive balance of N2.22 trillion month-on-month.
Year-on-year, the figure represents a nine per cent increase compared with the N76.13 trillion recorded in June 2025. The latest figures come as the CBN continues to balance efforts to control inflation with the need to support economic growth and expand credit to businesses.
The CBN data shows that credit to Nigeria’s private sector increased by approximately 2.74 per cent month-on-month between May and June 2026. Also, the CBN data noted that credit to the government fell slightly to N40.03 trillion from N40.38 trillion. Other assets, net, dropped to N10.76 trillion from N12.63 trillion.
The credit surge signifies sustained growth in lending to businesses and other private-sector borrowers during the month. The rise in private sector credit was recorded alongside an increase in net domestic credit, despite declines in credit to government and other assets.
Further analysis of the report says that compared with June 2025, private sector credit rose by about N7.13 trillion yea-on-year but net domestic credit increased by approximately N1.87 trillion during the month.
The CBN’s relatively tight monetary policy stance notwithstanding, more banks still loaded funds to the private sector within the period. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 306th meeting on July 20 and 21.
The Committee reviewed recent developments in the global and domestic economies, assessed emerging risks to the outlook and considered their implications for monetary policy and retained all rates.
The Committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 per cent; the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points and retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and non-TSA public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent.
The MPC decision means that credit extension in the private sector will likely continue to rise because of rising confidence in the sector and calls by stakeholders for banks to invest in the private scetor instead of government securities.
