The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has disclosed that electricity consumers who get free prepaid meters will be given a period of 10 years to repay the cost.
He explained that the Federal Government would fund the meter procurement through different initiatives while the customers pay back over time.
Adelabu’s statement contradicts claims that customers who pay for meters would be refunded through energy credit.
Speaking in Ibadan, the minister said that the government would deduct the cost of the meter within a space of 10 years.
He, however, explained that the deductions would be done in small amount and the consumers would hardly notice the difference.
Adelabu said, “We can get funding for this meter and allow the customers to pay over time.
“When the government starts procuring meters, we’ll give it to the customers, and we’ll deduct the money over 10 years. In which case, you will not even feel it at all.”
He explained further that a customer who bought an energy credit of ₦5,000 might have ₦100 deducted for the ‘free’ meter he got from the government.
“Probably, if you buy a credit of N5,000, maybe N100 will go into the meter that we have given you. So, that’s what we are trying to do. We bring these meters in and reduce the gap that we have in the meters,” he posited.
Adelabu maintained that the Federal Government and the states had raised ₦100bn for the procurement of prepaid electricity meters.
He explained, “Mr President has set up what we call the Presidential Meter Initiative and set up a Presidential Meeting Council to address this issue. He made me the chairman of this council. The SA on Energy to Mr President is the secretary of the council. The mandate we have was to procure and install a minimum of 2 million meters on a yearly basis over the next five years.”
