Distribution of free 4m electricity metres kicks off soon –FG

The Federal Government, yesterday, said it would soon commence the distribution of four million free electricity prepaid metres promised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). 

Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh, disclosed  this while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.

In keeping with its promise to augment government’s distribution of free prepaid metres with additional four million pieces of meters, the CBN had disbursed N123.34 billion to Distribution Companies (DisCos) to boost electricity supply in the country.

The apex bank had distributed N33.45 billion to nine DisCos for the procurement of 605,852 meters, while N89.89 billion was released under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF 2) to 11 DisCos to improve electricity supply in the country.

The minister said government was almost getting through with the distribution of its initial one million meters to electricity consumers, which he tagged phase zero, and would soon commence the distribution of four million meters, which he tagged phase one. He said there had been an improvement in power generation in the country, explaining that generation had peakcd at 5,000 Megawatts (MW) from the initial 3,000 megawatts.

He said government was working to ensure that supply was stable and generation upgraded from 5,000MW to over 6,000MW.