According to information received from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, new licenses and permits have been granted to 37 enterprises, allowing them to produce a combined 762.3 megawatts of electricity, thereby improving the nation’s power supply.
When compared to the number of people who were metered by power distribution firms in the previous quarter, the commission’s most recent Fourth Quarter 2021 Report showed that the metering of power users had decreased by 71.86 percent.
In the new report, the NERC said, “The commission approved the issuance of four new generation licenses with a total nameplate capacity of 508.5MW and the renewal of two existing licences in 2021/Q4.
“The commission also granted an aggregate capacity of 253.75MW captive power generation permit to eight companies and approved 25 mini-grid permits.”
46 metering service providers, including 17 installers, 15 manufacturers, two vendors, and 12 importers, were listed as having received commission approval in 2021/Q4 as well.
“The commission granted a total of 85 licenses and permits in 2021/Q4,” the report stated.
Regarding metering, it was noted that the enormous metering gap for end-use customers remained a major industry concern.
“A total of 81,084 meters were installed in 2021/Q4, as compared to the 288,154 meters installed in 2021/Q3,” the NERC stated.
Providing an explanation for this, it said, “The reduction in the number of meter installations in 2021/Q4 was largely driven by the winding down of the NMMP (National Mass Metering Programme) phase zero.
“The commission’s records indicate that, of the 10,514,582 registered energy customers as at December 2021, only 4,773,217 (45.40 per cent) have been metered compared to 42.93 per cent metering as at September 2021.”
However, it noted that the commission had set maximum limitations to the quantity of energy (energy caps in kWh) that can be billed to unmetered consumers as a protection against overbilling of unmetered clients through estimation.
“The cap for each customer is set based on the customer category, consumption of metered customers on the same feeder and the customer’s tariff band.” the NERC stated.
It added, “The caps are computed based on three-month data of actual consumption records of metered customers on the same feeder.”
However, it noted that the commission had set maximum limitations to the quantity of energy (energy caps in kWh) that can be billed to unmetered consumers as a protection against overbilling of unmetered clients through estimation.
“In total, the Discos resolved 212,382 complaints corresponding to a 95.39 per cent resolution rate. Metering, billing, and service interruption were the prevalent sources of customer complaints, accounting for 58.83 per cent of the total complaints during the quarter,” it stated.
