16 May 2013, Abuja – The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has said it is set to engage 80 firms as meter vendors and installers under the newly introduced interim metering measure known as Credit Advance Payment for Meter Installation, CAPMI.
NERC chairman, Dr Sam Amadi, made this known, Wednesday, at a stakeholders’ workshop on metering code 2 in Abuja, saying the commission had already secured approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, to engage the vendors.
CAPMI, the new metering measure allows consumers to pay for meters and get refunds for payments after installation through monthly reductions on the fixed charge component of their electricity bills until the meter cost is fully drawn.
According to the NERC chairman, customers would be charged an estimated N25,000 for single phase meters and up to N50,000 for three phase meters. Smart meters will come with other costs.
This, Amadi said, had become necessary following indications that electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, may fail to bridge the metering gap by the 18-month deadline set by NERC last year.
“Finally we’ve got an approval from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), this allows us now to certify about 80 firms to become vendors and installers.
“So, we are issuing out the order and part of it is that 45 days after payment is made everybody that has made payment is entitled to get meters installed.
“I think this temporal setback is because our MYTO (Multi-Year Tarriff Order) model did not work as planned because there were unexpected payments, costs that DISCOs had to carry.
“So, we are using CAPMI as interim measure and CAPMI has gone through the process and is now ready to be launched,” Amadi said.
He maintained that part of the order is that the DISCOs are also under obligation to supply the meters within 45 days to those who have paid money since January 2011 and have yet to be supplied.