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The federal government has identified liquidity as one of the greatest challenges bedevilling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
Speaking at the official flag-off of the Power Force Training Programme in Abuja, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said that every segment of the value chain depends on timely and adequate revenue collection. Yet, for many years, inadequate metering has denied the sector the financial certainty required to sustain investment, improve service delivery and expand electricity access.
Tegbe remarked that where electricity consumed cannot be accurately measured, revenue cannot be accurately collected.
Also, where revenue is uncertain, investments decline, infrastructure deteriorates and, ultimately, consumers suffer.
According to him, the metering gap, therefore, is not just a technical problem; it is one of the principal causes of the liquidity challenges that have constrained the growth of the power sector.
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“The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu fully appreciates this reality. Since assuming office, the president has pursued bold and audacious reforms designed to restore financial sustainability across the electricity market while ensuring that fairness, transparency and accountability remain at the heart of the system.
“His guiding principle is both simple and just: every Nigerian deserves to pay only for the actual electricity consumed, and every service provider deserves to be paid for the electricity genuinely supplied. That principle is what smart metering makes possible.
“Metering has a multiplier effect across the value chain. Metering removes disputes. It replaces estimation with accuracy, uncertainty with confidence, and suspicion with trust. It empowers consumers to manage their electricity usage whilst providing distribution companies (DisCos) with reliable revenue streams to improve service delivery. In doing so, it strengthens the entire Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry,” he said.
“It is against this background,” Tegbe said, “that the Federal Government has continued to prioritise interventions aimed at restoring liquidity and consumer confidence across the market.
“Through ongoing reforms, improved market discipline, settlement initiatives and targeted financial interventions, we are addressing legacy challenges whilst laying the foundations for a commercially viable electricity industry capable of attracting sustained private investment,” he explained.
