Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon, a journalist with Legit.ng, has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.

According to the latest update on the federal government’s metering initiative, another 187,194 Nigerian households have gotten prepaid meters installed for them in the first quarter of 2025.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission report shows that this is a slight increase from the 186,431 meters installed in Q4 2024.

However, the overall metering progress remains behind, as more than half of the Nigerian electricity consumers are yet to get prepaid meters and still have to rely on estimated billing.

With the latest addition, the end-user metering rate in Nigeria is up to 46.98% as of the end of Q1 2025. This implies that about 53.02% of Nigerian electricity consumers are still under the estimated billing regime.

The NERC report further reveals that 79.44% of the 187,194 meters installed between January 1 and March 31, 2025, were installed under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) framework.

This percentage translates into 148,713 meters for the MAP framework, while 36,787 meters were captured under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF).

The Disco-financed model covered 1,074 meters in the period, and the Vendor-financed model covered the remaining 620 meters, the Punch reports.

Recall that some discos, like Ikeja Electric, also launched free metering for some customers.

1. Ikeja Disco now has the highest metering rate of 78%.

2. Abuja Disco has 72% coverage.

3. Eko Disco has 64% coverage.

4. Benin Disco has 50% coverage.

5. Enugu Disco has 49% coverage.

6. Port Harcourt Disco has 46% coverage.

7. Ibadan Disco has 44% of its customers metered.

8. Jos Disco has 27% of its customers metered.

9. Kaduna Disco has 25% coverage.

10. Kano Disco also has 25% coverage.

11. Yola Disco has the lowest with 14% coverage.

• Ibadan Disco installed 42,685 meters to account for 22.8% of the total.

• Ikeja Disco installed 40,810 meters.

• Abuja Disco installed 25,400 meters.

• Benin Disco installed 23,591 meters

• Enugu Disco installed 14,459 meters

• Eko Disco installed 14,097 meters

• Kano installed 5,281 meters

• Jos Disco installed 5,140 units.

Aba Power also launched a free metering programme, spending N33 billion to install prepaid meters across 19 local government areas.

The most common complaint under the estimated billing regime is that of Discos exploiting customers with excessive bills.

To address this, NERC has introduced monthly energy caps for all feeders, preventing Discos from billing customers beyond the cap.

The cap is determined based on the total energy consumption of the feeders and the specific usage profile of each customer.

Discos found to still overbill customers attract a heavy sanction, including a directive to compensate the customers.

In related news, the federal government has announced plans to begin the rollout of free meters under the Presidential Metering Initiative.

Legit.ng reported that the distribution will start in Q4 2025, with the target of bridging the metering gap and boosting efficiency.

A representative of Eriye Onagoruwa, the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, provided an update on the PMI during the second day of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Stakeholders Meeting in Lagos.

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Source: Legit.ng