The Federal Government has set aside N120 billion as the first tranche of the Presidential Power Measurement Initiative (PMI).
According to the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) expenditure report for May 2024 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the amount was distributed in May from revenues received in April.
120 billion Naira is Approximately 10% of revenue distribution in May 2024 9% of the three tiers of government It is expected that 1.325 trillion naira will be spent on the PMI..
In May this year, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the government would provide 75 billion naira as initial capital, while the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) had committed to inject a minimum of 250 billion naira annually for the life of the scheme.
The Minister also revealed that the initiative will utilise borrowing funds from various financial institutions to strengthen the resources of PMI.
Victor Ojelabi, Managing Director of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), said this recently. The PMI will free up about 1 trillion naira of revenue currently trapped in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). Because there are many customers who do not have a flat-rate fee system.
Under this initiative, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Approval of 21 billion naira announced for 11 power distribution companies (DisCos) will provide meters free of cost to end consumers.This information is contained in Order No. NERC/2024/072 on the operationalisation of “Tranche A” of the Presidential Metering Initiative under the Meter Acquisition Fund Framework.
What you need to know
During the presidential campaign, Bola Tinubu Plans to phase out quote requests We will ensure that every Nigerian home and business has a prepaid meter.
However, under his administration, the number of estimated billing customers recorded the highest growth rates on both a quarterly and annual basis, based on NBS data up to 2022.
Nairametrics was previously a federal government Plans to phase out estimated billing by the end of 2024 Power supply is facing major bottlenecks as evidenced by the recent increase in the number of customers with estimated bills across Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos).
According to the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) electricity report for the first quarter of 2024, Estimated billing customers up 10% quarter-over-quarter as measurement gap widens.
The number of estimated billable customers increased from 5.83 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 6.43 million in the first quarter of 2024, a notable increase of 10%.
On a year-over-year basis, the increase in estimated billing customers is similarly notable. From Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, estimated billing customers increased 8% from 5.96 million to 5.96 million.
The increase comes as the government continues to subsidise customers who do not fall into Band A, while Band A customers with estimated billing still have to pay based on the estimate.
It further highlights the persistent problem in Nigeria’s power sector of not being able to properly meter all customers to bridge the metering gap, despite various efforts, forcing it to rely on estimated billing.