The Federal government has set aside the sum of N700 billion to implement the distribution of free electricity meters under the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI).
The amount being deducted from the monthly federation revenue before allocation to the three tiers of government is designed to resolve the metering gap, which currently stands at 50 per cent.
Sources close the Federal Account Allocation Committee meeting said between April and August, the government saved N420billion from a monthly deduction of N100billion.
About N120billion was deducted from April revenue as the first tranche of the PMI.
In other words, a total of N420billion has been deducted from the federation account for this initiative.
In May this year, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the government would provide an initial N75billion as seed capital, while the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority pledged to inject a minimum of N250billion annually for the initiative’s duration.
Adelabu also disclosed that the initiative would leverage debt financing from diverse financial institutions to bolster the PMI’s resources.
The Managing Director of Abuja Distribution Electricity Distribution Company, Victor Ojelabi, recently said that the PMI would unlock about N1trillion in revenue currently tied up in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry due to a large number of unmetered customers.
Under the initiative, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission announced the approval of N21bn for the 11 electricity Distribution Companies to provide meters for end-use customers at zero cost.
Providing an update on the issue on Friday, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Power on Strategic Communications and Media, Bolaji Tunji, affirmed that the programme is still on course with a target to deliver two million meters yearly.
Tunji revealed that the amount saved had reached N700billion, adding that procurement had started.
He said: “The Presidential Metering Initiative is still on course, two million meters every year, delivery of the first batch will start by the first quarter of next year. About N700bn provision has been made, and the money is ready.”
Tunji further revealed that the government would fulfil its promise to deliver 1.3 million out of the 3.2 million meters under the World Bank Distribution Sector Reform Programme initiative this month.