The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (“NERC” or the “Commission”) in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 96 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 (“the EPSRA”) has introduced the Meter Asset Provider Regulation 2018 (“the MAP Regulation”). The key regulatory objective of the Commission, is to provide standard rules to encourage the development of independent and competitive metering services within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). Prior to the regulation, the obligation of metering electricity customers was the statutory responsibility of the Distribution Licensees (“Discos”), who perhaps due to liquidity challenges within the NESI were unable to finance the acquisition and installation of meters. In effect, a metering gap of about 4,740,275 was recorded as at December, 2017 , and majority of electricity consumers subjected to an estimated energy billing regime.
The Commission had previously introduced initiatives such as the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) Scheme which failed to meet its objectives to close the metering gap and improve revenue collection. The Scheme allowed electricity customers to procure and install electricity meters through self-financing, and recover their investment through energy credits from the Discos. However, while the electricity customers made prompt payment for the electricity meters, the Discos were unable to meet their obligations to provide and install electricity meters to customers who participated in the scheme.
The MAP Regulation unbundles the NESI, and introduces a new market participant – the Meter Asset Provider by re-allocating the responsibility of providing metering services to electricity consumers. The regulations major objectives are to eliminate the estimated billing which has plagued the NESI, attract private investment, close the metering gap, enhance efficient revenue collection and improved liquidity within the NESI. All Discos Licensees shall engage the services of MAP in accordance with the provisions of the MAP Regulation towards meeting its metering targets.