Fashola revealed further that the Federal Government had met with Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, Distribution Companies, DISCOs, and Generation Companies, GENCOs, on how to implement the Eligible Customer Policy. He said implementation of the policy would increase connectivity to the 2,000 MW that is available.
He said: “While it is no longer news that we have reached a 7,000 MW generation capacity and have a 5,000 MW distribution capacity, what is newsworthy is that in the last month, we have met with Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, DISCOs, and GENCOs on how to implement the Eligible Customer Policy and increase connectivity to the 2,000 MW that is available.
In many parts of the country connected to the grid, citizen feedback is positive, even though all the problems are not solved.” ‘’Citizens acknowledge more power in dry weather, reduced hours of running their generators and reduction in fuel (diesel and petrol) purchase to power generators.” Meanwhile, the Federal Government has developed Meter Asset Provider regulation 2018, which implementations will fetch the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, over N200 billion investments in the next three years.
Presenting the regulation, the Commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Compliance, at the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dafe Akpeneye, said the regulation would create jobs, since it was compulsory to comply with 30% local content in the engagement of manpower. He said the issues of availability of metering and estimated billings were a recurring issue wherever it went.
Akpeneye said the commission had consultations with different stakeholders, agencies and consumers on the regulation. He submitted that the findings were that NERC could not leave the task to the DISCOs alone as other investors must come on stream, hence the Meter Asset Provider Regulation.
He added that four years after, privatization customers were still complaining, which necessitated the regulation to have independent people approved by NERC and contracted by the DISCOs to bridge the metering gap. In bridging the gap, he said, customers would now have the option of self-financing, obtain meters from the asset providers to pay the metering service charge for a period of 10 years.
According to him, the meter asset providers will also ensure that the meters are maintained within 48hours should anything go wrong with it.
