The Federal Government is to spend between N269.38bn and N497.13bn on the provision of six million free meters to various unmetered power users across the country.
Also, findings from separate quarterly reports of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on the power sector showed that the number of unmetered customers in Nigeria has reduced by 210.359.
It was also gathered that about 245.916 unmetered power consumers would not benefit from the six million free meters, as Nigeria currently has about 6.245.916.
On Thursday, a presidency source told reporters in Abuja that the government would commence its free meter distribution scheme the following day with Kano, Kaduna, Eko and Ikeja electricity distribution companies’ franchise areas.
It was also gathered that the mass metering scheme took effect after a recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Based on the directive, the CBN approved guidelines for funding the programme, which entailed that all meters under the scheme would be locally sourced in order to create more jobs.
Going by the hike in prices, findings showed that for three-phase meters, a total of N497.13bn would be required to provide the six million meters planned for free distribution nationwide.
