Allow consumers to buy meters, FG tells NERC

   The Federal Government has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC to reinstate the regulation that allows power consumers to purchase meters from approved vendors.

   NERC had in September last year directed the 11 electricity distribution companies operating in the country to formally wind down the alternative meter financing scheme, initiated by NERC in 2013, on or before November 1, 2016.

  The commission had stated that the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation, which allowed electricity consumers to self-finance meter acquisition and installation, that Discos which were unable to promptly deploy meters to them, would cease to exist from November 1, 2016.

   But on Thursday, the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, stated that both the federal and state governments recently resolved that NERC should reinstate the regulation that permits power consumers to purchase meters, especially where the Discos could not provide the facility. The ministry said the resolution was reached at the recent third edition of the National Council on Power.