OpeOluwani Akintayo
Lagos — The Federal Government said it has distributed the sum of N14.35 billion to electectricity utility firms for procurement of meters under the National Mass Metering Programme, NMMP.
In a statement on Thursday, FG said the fund distributed through the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN was for purchase of 263,860 meters.
According to the statement, the facility “is a loan that must be repaid by the DisCos on the basis of the previously agreed amortisation schedule. The repayment is to be deducted from payments made by consumers into the DisCos accounts with Deposit Money Banks (DMBs),” the Federal Government added.
The maximum tenor for the loan is 10 years but not exceeding 2030, while the moratorium on the principal amount is for a period not exceeding 24 months from the date of loan disbursement.
Last November, FG announced intention to make immediate funding available for DisCos to roll out 1,000,000 meters in the first phase, of the Mass Meter Programme.
Following the announcement, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC released a list of the metering schedule for the first phase with with Ikeja Disco, IKEDC getting meter allocation of 106,701 units (10.7%). Others were IBEDC with 103,997 units (10.4%), AEDC with 101,186 units (10.1%). PHEDC got the least of 77,070 units (7.7%).
