NERC Orders DisCos to Refund Meter Costs to Customers Within 12 Months
- NERC has ordered DisCos to refund N20.33bn owed to customers under the MAP meter scheme
- The commission directed that the outstanding sum be repaid within 12 months, starting March 1, 2026
- DisCos are prohibited from offsetting meter reimbursement credits against customers’ legacy debts
Oluwatobi Odeyinka is a business editor at Legit.ng, covering energy, the money market, technology and macroeconomic trends in Nigeria.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has directed electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to refund N20.33bn owed to customers who paid for meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme.
Source: UGC
According to Order No: NERC/2026/025, the commission instructed that the outstanding amount must be recovered and fully repaid to affected customers within 12 months, beginning March 1, 2026, PUNCH reported.
The order, signed on February 27, 2026, by NERC chairman Musiliu Oseni and commissioner for legal, licensing and compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, amends a previous 2023 directive on meter cost reimbursements.
Refund for meters procured under MAP
Under the MAP framework, electricity consumers who procure meters directly are entitled to refunds through energy credits from their respective DisCos. However, NERC said reimbursement progress had been slow over the years.
The commission disclosed that as of December 31, 2025, DisCos had yet to refund N20.33bn to customers who purchased meters under the scheme.
“In February 2026, the commission reviewed the level of compliance of DisCos with the expected reimbursement to customers who have paid for meters under the MAP framework,” the order stated.
NERC moves against further refund delay
NERC explained that the new directive is aimed at preventing recurring delays, improving transparency in customer notifications, and strengthening confidence in the power sector.
As part of the new measures, all meter reimbursements are to be automated. DisCos are required to credit the total cost of a MAP meter to a customer’s account upon activation and disburse it as monthly energy credits over the approved 120-month amortisation period.
The regulator also made it clear that reimbursement credits must not be used to offset any existing customer debt. Instead, the credits are to be treated separately.
For prepaid customers, DisCos must generate monthly tokens reflecting the reimbursement value no later than the fourth day of each month. Postpaid customers, on the other hand, are to see the refund reflected as a distinct credit line on their monthly bills.
Source: Getty Images
NERC directs DisCos to accelerate refunds
To clear the N20.33bn backlog, DisCos have been directed to accelerate repayments over the next 12 months. Prepaid customers will receive two tokens monthly during the recovery period, while postpaid customers will see two separate reimbursement entries on their bills.
In addition, NERC mandated monthly compliance reports from all DisCos detailing the total value of reimbursements made through energy credits.
The commission also ordered each DisCo to create a dedicated email address for complaints from customers who have not received their refunds, with updates on such complaints to be included in the monthly reports submitted to the regulator.
FG mentions free prepaid meters shared
Legit.ng earlier reported that the federal government disclosed that only about 200,000 smart electricity meters under the $500 million World Bank-backed Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) had been shared with Nigerians.
This is in spite of the delivery of hundreds of thousands of meters into the country. The government blamed DisCos for the slow installation of prepaid meters for Nigerians.
The government disclosed the number of smart meters installed under the DISREP programme so far. The DISREP programme aims to install 3.2 million meters over four years at no cost to consumers
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
