The Executive Chairman of the NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, has ruled out the possibility of providing meters to all electricity customers in the country before a period of 18 to 20 months.
Admitting to financial challenges in the procurement and distribution of the meters, Dr. Amadi said that the task of ensuring that every citizen had a meter before the commencement of the new tariffs on June 1, 2012 was downright impossible. He however stated that the regulatory agency was working on standardising estimated billing for customers who did not have meters.
The government is also said to be working on standardised estimated billing for electricity consumers who may not be provided with billing meters by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. This is an alternative to the only available option of waiting until meters were provided for all customers or until electricity supply improved dramatically before the new tariff would come into effect, saying the new tariff regime would increase the capacity of the Federal Government to meet the power needs of the nation.
