Chukwudi lives in the Zuba area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. 

After not having electricity for many days, he told SaharaReporters that the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company of Nigeria (AEDC) brought him what he described as an outrageous bill. 

He is not alone; different persons in different areas in Abuja from Zuba to Deidei and also Madalla area of Niger State told SaharaReporters that it was hard for them to pay for electricity, regardless of whether they got light or not. 

A respondent who identified himself as Emeka told SaharaReporters that the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) also had done much harm with estimated billing in his compound.

“I am in tears as I speak to you now.  The Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) has killed us here in Awka with estimated billing.”

“To be more specific, in April, they gave my compound N675,000 as bill for only 15 days. We used the light, after disconnecting our light, for 15 days despite paying over N200,000 already for March billing.”

“Throughout May, we did not use light because it remained disconnected despite paying over N100,000.”

He noted that his compound was given N634,000 as May light bill. 

"As I speak with you, our light has remained disconnected." 

He expressed dismay that efforts to get metered proved abortive for weeks because the EEDC officials claimed they lacked meters. 

“Initially, they never agreed that there was a meter until last month when they finally agreed that there are meters. My landlord has paid for a three-phase meter for over three weeks now but till now, they are yet to install the meter.”

“They are still asking my landlord to pay more money,” he told SaharaReporters.

His story echoes the plights of many Nigerians, who accused distribution companies of hoarding meters in a bid to continue the “outrageous” estimated billings.

Media reports have also at different times chronicled the plight of electricity consumers on estimated billing.

Estimated billing is a major problem for Nigeria’s electricity sector. 

This is worsened by the poor availability of electricity which means that many locations in the country are unable to enjoy stable power supply, banking instead on alternative sources such as generators.

However, in the face of this unavailability, many customers of electricity distribution companies in Nigeria noted that they have to pay more for little or no electricity.

While the World Bank says that only 26.3% of Nigerians have access to electricity in rural areas, estimated billing is also an issue. Most of the households without access to meters are domiciled in the rural areas. Also only 59.5% of the country’s population has access to electricity per world bank data.

At different times, Nigerians had lamented the effect of estimated billing. In February, 2024, the Nigerian government announced that it would deduct N10.5 billion from the revenue of distribution companies over their non-compliance with capping of unmetered customers.

Despite promises of the different governments to tackle Nigeria’s metering challenge, the problem continues unabated.

As of the first quarter of 2024, the numbers of unmetered customers stood at 6.4 million while 5.9 million customers were metered. This would 

In 2023, the figure stood at 5.6 million for metered customers and 5.83 million for unmetered customers.

This would mean that between December 2023 and March 2024, the number of Nigerians on estimated billing (unmetered customers) increased by 600,000 customers.

Estimated customers (unmetered) stood at 5.9million in the last quarter of 2022.

Nigeria has continued to intervene in the provision of meters for the electricity consumers, however this has not ameliorated the country’s metering gap.

In October 2021, the Nigerian government claimed that it distributed one million meters for free while noting that another four million meters was going to be distributed.

The government also says it for instance has about N1.8trillion electricity subsidy to pay for 2024, although lamentations of Nigerians on estimated billing put questions to the cost of electricity in the country 

As of the time of this report, the Nigerian government is reported to have secured a $500 million World Bank loan to bolster electricity distribution in the country, one of the aims of the loan is the bulk procurement of customer/retail meters and retail meters data management systems. 

It is unclear how this would be implemented and what it means for cost of meters in the country.

Cost of Prepaid Meter, a Challenge?

Review shows that it cost N81,975 for a single phase prepaid meter while it cost N143,836 for a 3-phase prepaid meter. 

Experts worry that the cost of purchasing meters could be a huge debacle for Nigerians, given the poor standard of living in the country.

Currently, the minimum wage of Nigeria stands at N30,000, meaning that the cost of a single phase meter is over two times the country’s minimum wage. 

The price of a three phase meter is about five times the country’s current minimum wage.

Although the Nigerian government continues to restate its commitment to ensuring adequate supply of electricity and metering Nigerians, stories of Nigerians and data continue to question the level of effectiveness of these claims.