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Towards Efficient Metering Of Customers’ Houses

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The recent directive by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that distribution companies (DISCOs), under the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) should ensure the metering of all customers’ houses across the country within 18 months could simply be seen as a blue-Peter or blanket-bath for the unbundled power company.

It has since been noticed by Nigerians that even when houses are metered, NEPA/PHCN staff do not read meters before billing, rather they deliberately estimate and issue ‘crazy bills’ and charging consumers for power they did not consume. Even the distribution companies claim that average consumption of those who were adequately metered was applied to a cluster of residence to arrive at estimated consumption and customers believe that the DISCOs calculations for estimated billing were not based on established scientific or reliable parameters.

Eyo Ekpo, the Commissioner for Marketing, Competition and Rates of the NERC had ordered all the DISCOs to submit their metering plans for an effective billing system, adding that the distribution companies were expected to complete the metering process between 12 and 18 months.

“We have told them that between 12 and 18 months, they should be able to meter all houses of their customers” , Ekpo said.

According to him, NERC is determined to ensure greater number of meter distribution to customers.

The main issue bothering customers and Nigerians as a whole is not the metering of their houses but the question is, are PHCN staff prepared to read the meters and give consumers accurate bills?

Metering of electricity in Nigeria, according to a report submitted by the Metering Inquiry Committee, began with the production and consumption of electricity around 1895. The system and process are, however, bedeviled by inefficiencies and corrupt practices.

Historically, electricity metering was centrally coordinated with the various units of NEPA/PHCN at the distribution end relying on the procurement apparatus at the headquarters to procure and distribute meters to customers through three central stores. This inefficient system led to a backlog of meter requests by customers who pay for such services without the meters being installed.

The resultant effect has been the institutionalization of the unwholesome practice of estimated billing and the attendant customer dissatisfaction and disappointment, which partly accounts for consumers’ refusal to register for meters.

It is against this backdrop that the Metering Inquiry Committee was set up to garner data and information on the root cause of the endemic metering crisis in the country which impacts the electricity sector negatively. During its assignment a few weeks ago, the committee discovered that less than 50 per cent of the registered customers in the Nigerian Electricity sector are metered.

This has led to the prevalent practice of arbitrary charges based on unscientific estimation of electricity consumed by customers by the DISCOs in order to meet up with their overhead costs in an environment of inefficiency and dwindling supply of electricity.

According to the committee’s report, the total number of customers captured in the records of operators of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry is 5,172,979, which represents 18.65 per cent of Nigeria’s total households put at 28,900,492 as provided by records from the National Bureau of Statistics in 2006. This record, however, does not include those enjoying electricity illegally who are not registered by the DISCOs, known as illegal consumers’.

Out of the number of customers registered, 2,893,701 or 55.94 per cent were metered, while 2,355,045 or 45.53 per cent were unmetered. The Committee, however, discovered that out of the total number of customers metered, about 701,385 or 22 per cent of the meters were faulty. At present, a total of 2,956,069 or 54.83 per cent of all the customers registered are not metered at all or have no functional meters. On the average, therefore, only about 2,434,541 or a minute 8.42 per cent of the total households in Nigeria are currently being billed correctly by all DISCOs if a household is used as our metering index.

The remaining registered customers are, therefore, at the mercy of estimated billing. This development has created a wide gap in effective billing which calls for emergency response.

In Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, the Business Manager, Diobu Business Unit of the PHCN, Festus Mmegbu disclosed that as at march this year, 85 per cent of the 36,000 customers using electricity in the area do not have meters. He said there was massive deployment and installation of meters going on and called on customers to register and pay for meters.

He regretted that failure by customers to install meters at their premises was causing under-estimation.

Most customers are clamouring for pre-paid meters as a more efficient metering system that can guarantee accurate billing. This is why the Chief Executive of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company Plc expressed concern over agitations of customers for prepaid meters which are being used in the area currently.

There is need to develop and adopt a metering system aimed at making smooth and effective our electricity operations. To ensure customer satisfaction, special units should be established by the distribution companies such as tracking/management of customer account records and debts to ensure that no unwarranted debts or excessive estimations are made and also ensure that where frivolous estimates were made in the past, they will be expunged to give credibility to the bills and billing operations.

Electricity distribution companies should ensure fairness in dealing with their customers to maintain the trust and confidence reposed in them. There should be an elaborate customer reclassification exercise aimed at ensuring that no customer is placed on the wrong tariff class. To enjoy the cooperation of customers, distribution companies must make sure that their Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are responsible, efficient and accountable.

They should avoid the situation where monies for meters are paid through draft by customers to the CEOs and there is no feedback as to whether they get the meter or not, and how long the customer stays before getting meter. It is discovered that in most of distribution companies, customers paid for meters for years and yet were not supplied any. In most cases, meters are not scarce but the company staff demand for kick-back before releasing the meter.

There are also evidences of some DISCOs refusing customers’ payments for meters, especially pre-payment meters. Indeed, sharp practices and inefficiencies are the hallmarks of the metering system in Nigeria, from ageing power plants and terrible transmission lines to more importantly, rampant corruption and poor collection rates.

In all the six geo-political zones visited by the Metering Inquiry Committee, complaints ranging from refusal to meter customers, estimated billing following refusal to read installed Non-PPM meters, culture of impunity of PHCN staff, connivance of some unscrupulous PHCN staff with private individuals to defraud the public were received.

Other irregularities discovered were demand for money for preferential treatment in various forms such as hot lines, tamper code, PR (unreceipted additional payment for supply of meters. Estimated billing was the norm in all the DISCOs visited by the committee. For instance, customers in Lagos, Enugu, Yola, Kaduna, Makurdi and Abuja distribution companies alleged that delay in the supply of meters to customers and blantant refusal to obtain correct meter readings which resulted in estimated billing were deliberate. They were of the view that with the poor supply of electricity in the country and gross inefficiency on the part of distribution companies to curtail operational losses (human and technical) estimate billing remains the only option for the DISCOs.

For Nigeria to get it right in the metering policy, the Federal Government through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) should review the operations of the distribution companies, especially now that the power sector reform is on the front burner of the present administration coupled with the privatization process of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

NERC should adopt a regulatory system that would make it obligatory for DISCOs to meter their distribution transformers for adequate energy accounting and equity as well as intensify its monitoring and enforcement machinery to ensure proper implementation of existing regulations on metering, billing and cash collection. There shall be overall improvement in customer service and operations to eliminate the culture of impunity prevailing in the electricity sector.

 

Shedie Okpara

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FG Inaugurates National Energy Master Plan Implementation Committee

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The Federal Government has inaugurated the National Energy Master Plan Implementation Committee (NEMiC), in a major step towards repositioning Nigeria’s energy sector.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, disclosed this in a Statement issued by the minister’s Senior Special Adviser, Robert Ngwu, in Abuja, at the Weekend.
According to the statement, the inauguration which marked the beginning of the full implementation phase of the National Energy Master Plan (NEMP), tasked the committee with the responsibility of spearheading the country’s transition to a cleaner, more inclusive and sustainable energy future.
Nnaji urged the committee to deliver real impact to households, industries, and communities nationwide.
“The National Energy Master plan is not just a document; it is a blueprint for transforming our energy landscape. NEMiC must fast-track the deployment of energy solutions that are reliable, affordable, and climate-friendly.
“The work you do will directly influence Nigeria’s economic growth, social progress, and environmental sustainability,” the minister said.
Nnaji expressed optimism that the committee would deliver on the assignment.
“The decisions and actions taken by this Committee will define Nigeria’s energy trajectory for decades to come.
“This is a responsibility of the highest order, and I am confident NEMiC has the capacity, the vision, and the commitment to rise to the occasion,” he said.
It would be noted that NEMP is a comprehensive framework designed to guide Nigeria’s energy diversification, strengthen energy security and align national development with global climate action goals.
Constituted on Oct. 17, 2024, by the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), NEMiC is tasked with mobilising funding and investing in renewable energy infrastructure.
It also has the responsibility of accelerating the deployment of technologies that expand access to reliable and affordable power.
The committee would oversee projects across solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and other emerging technologies while also advancing the operationalisation of the National Energy Fund, meant to channel resources into domestic energy efficiency and infrastructure projects.
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How Solar Canals Could Revolutionize the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

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Globally, demand for food, water, and energy is sharply on the rise. The World Economic Forum says that by 2050, food demand could increase by over 50%, energy by up to 19% and water by up to 30%. The increasing scarcity of these resources – and potential solutions to their sustainable management – are deeply interconnected, calling for integrated solutions.
“Disruption in one amplifies vulnerabilities and trade-offs in others,” wrote the World Economic Forum in a July report. “Such disruptions also create opportunities for sustainable growth, enhanced resilience and more equity.” The idea of synergistic nexus solutions is starting to pick up steam in both public and private sectors.
A new project in California, aptly named Project Nexus, aims to do just that. The novel project seeks to find synergies for water management and renewable energy production in some of the nation’s sunniest and most water-stressed agricultural lands by covering miles and miles of irrigation canals with solar panels, yielding multiple benefits for the water-energy-food nexus.
While the panels generate clean energy, they also shade the canals from the harsh desert sun, mitigating water loss to evaporation and discouraging the growth of aquatic weeds that can choke the waterways. Plus, the presence of the water acts as a built-in cooling system for the solar panels. The $20 million state-funded initiative could produce up to 1.6 megawatts of renewable energy “while producing a host of other benefits,” according to a report from SFGATE.
In addition to these benefits, placing solar panels on top of existing agricultural infrastructure could offer key benefits compared to standard solar farms. They are more easily and quickly greenlit, as they don’t face the same land-use conflicts that utility-scale solar farms are facing across the nation. Plus, “placing solar panels atop existing infrastructure doesn’t require altering the landscape, and the relatively small installations can be plugged into nearby distribution lines, avoiding the cumbersome process of connecting to the higher-voltage wires required for bigger undertakings,” reports Canary Media.
The result of Project Nexus and similar models appears to be a win-win for water, energy, and food, all while using less land. “The challenges of climate change are going to really force us to do more with a lot less … so this is just an example of the type of infrastructure that can make us more resilient,” says project scientist Brandi McKuin. While Project Nexus isn’t releasing figures on the project’s performance until they have a full year’s worth of data, McKuin says current analysis shows that the project is on track to meet its projected outputs.
Project Nexus is not the first project to place solar panels over canals, but it’s still among just a handful of such projects in the world. The United States’ first and only other solar canal project came online late last year in Arizona, where the project produces energy for the Pima and Maricopa tribes, collectively known as the Gila River Indian Community. While many large-scale renewable energy projects have run up against land-use issues with tribal lands, the Arizona project shows that the canal model can be an excellent alternative solution.
“Why disturb land that has sacred value when we could just put the solar panels over a canal and generate more efficient power?” David DeJong, director of the Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project, was quoted by Grist. In keeping with the spirit of water-energy nexus solutions, the Project is currently developing a water delivery system for the water-stressed Gila River Indian Community.
Of course, these pilot projects produce a whole lot less energy than utility-scale solar farms. But research suggests that if the solar canal idea is scaled across the United States’ 8,000 miles of federally owned canals and aqueducts, it could have a significant impact. In 2023, a coalition of environmental groups calculated that installing panels on all that existing federal infrastructure could generate over 25 gigawatts of energy and potentially avoid tens of billions of gallons of water evaporation at the same time.
By Haley Zaremba
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Dangote Refinery Resumes Gantry Self-Collection Sales, Tuesday

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Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited has announced that it will resume self-collection gantry sales of petroleum products at its facility beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

This is revealed in an email communication from the Group Commercial Operations Department of the company, and obtained by Newsmen, at the Weekend.

The decision marks a reversal of a directive issued earlier, which had suspended self-collection and compelled marketers to rely exclusively on the refinery’s Free Delivery Scheme.

The company explained that while gantry access is being reinstated, the free delivery service remains operational, with marketers encouraged to continue registering their outlets for direct supply at no additional cost.

The statement said “in reference to the earlier email communication on the suspension of the PMS self-collection gantry sales, please note that we will be resuming the self-collection gantry sales on the 23rd of September, 2025”.

Dangote Petroleum Refinery also apologised to its partners for any inconvenience the suspension may have caused, while assuring stakeholders of its commitment to improving efficiency and ensuring seamless supply.

“Meanwhile, please be informed that we are aggressively delivering on the free delivery scheme, and it is still open for registration. We encourage you to register your stations and pay for the product to be delivered directly to you for free. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding,” it added.

It would be recalled that in September 18, 2025, Dangote refinery had suspended gantry-based self-collection of petroleum products at its depot. The move was designed to accelerate the adoption of its Free Delivery Scheme, which guarantees direct shipments of petroleum products to registered retail outlets across Nigeria.

 The company had also explained that the suspension would help curb transactions with unregistered marketers, either directly at its depot or indirectly through other licensed dealers.

The refinery stressed that the earlier decision was an operational adjustment aimed at streamlining efficiency in the downstream supply chain.

It further warned that any payments made after the effective suspension date would be rejected.
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