Full List: 47 Companies Bid to Provide 1.25 Million Meters Funded by World Bank
- About 47 companies are biding for the World Bank-funded Mass Metering Programme by the Nigerian Government
- The Nigerian government secured about $155 million loan from the bank for the purchase of smart pre-paid meters
- The federal government said the move is to end estimated billing by electricity distribution companies
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The Nigerian government has opened bids from 47 companies to provide 1.25 million electricity meters worth $155 million, funded by the World Bank.
The bid opening is part of the Nigerian government’s Mass Metering Programme, which began in 2021 with the supply of one million meters.
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FG seeks $500 million loan from World Bank to improve electricity supply in Nigeria
Phase one of the project failed to start as the N200 billion funds expected from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) could not come to fruition.
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Vanguard reports that the move prompted the World Bank’s intervention of a $500 million loan for phase 2, with a balance of $345 million going directly to the electricity distribution firms (DisCos) to fund the expansion of the distribution networks in Nigeria.
Speaking at the bid opening in Abuja on Thursday, October 5, 2023, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Energy, Olu Veihejen, stated the Nigerian government’s commitment to providing meters for all electricity customers and ending estimated billing.
Veihejen said the government is committed to delivering reliable and cleaner electricity to Nigerians and businesses.
She said that the government is embarking on reforms to improve the performance of DisCos.
Nigeria begins to move to end estimated billing
She revealed that the first phase involves the purchase of 1.2 million pre-paid meters, with the procurement process beginning in October 2023 and ending estimated billing, which Nigerians have frowned on for many decades.
The Assistant General Manager, World Bank PIU, Transmission Company Company of Nigeria (TCN), Tukur Musa Bamali, said that the first set of meters under phase 2 is expected by June 2024.
17 new distribution companies come on stream
He stated that the government is procuring 1.25 million meters funded by the World Bank to supply smart meters to the 11 distribution companies to end the estimated billing system.
Bamali stated that the loan became effective in February 2023, while the contract would be signed soon.
The move comes after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) said it has licensed 17 new electricity distribution companies in the country.
NERC said 10 of the distribution firms have already begun operations.
NERC says new electricity subsidy designed to favour the rich, reveals disCos with highest tariffs
Legit.ng reported that a report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says that wealthy Nigerians make up the highest consumers of electricity subsidies in Nigeria.
NERC revealed this in its 2022 Market Competition Report released on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, saying that the end-user tariff subsidy in Nigeria is more favourable to the rich as the top income earners in Nigeria consume more electricity than others.
The Commission said that the average price spent on electricity is about N64.4 per kilowatt per hour using the former exchange rate in Nigeria and was lower than the average tariff in West Africa.
Source: Legit.ng
