-by our correspondent.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says customers who paid for meters under the Meter Asset Provider scheme will soon be refunded.
Head of Public Affairs NERC, Michael Faloseyi, disclosed this to journalists in a statement.
The regulatory commission’s statement is in response to inquiries by some electricity consumers in the country, who had already paid for meters, as to if their money would be refunded.
Under the MAP scheme, which took effect from May 2019, customers were given two options for acquiring a meter: upfront payment and payment in installments through metering service charge on a monthly basis, the arrangement however, according to the regulator, was disrupted by hindrances, such as policy changes and unavailability of long-term funding facilities.
According to the NERC “Meter deployments are commencing in earnest across all Discos under the first phase of the NMMP.” Noting that the first roll out of meters had already commenced based on meters that were already available at the warehouses of the Discos and meter asset providers.
The commission said, given that all prudent costs are borne by customers, the full cost of metering would form part of the tariff once the industry assumes full cost recovery.
“All customers who made payment for meters under the MAP scheme would be refunded. The modality for the refund of the meter’s cost funded by the customers either through upfront payment or amortised payments is being worked out.” The statement read.
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