- ‘Poor Quality Meters Will Worsen Power Sector’s Woes’
The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has warned that low-quality meters will worsen the power sector problems if not addressed.
Its Managing Director, Peter Ewesor, said in an interview that the development posed dangers to the sector, which is still undergoing challenges.
He said the sector was facing liquidity problems, poor supply, low manpower, shortage of meters, and other infrastructural challenges.
According to him, electricity distributors are badly affected by the development as Nigerians continue to berate the sector over poor performance since the Federal Government unbundled the assets of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in 2013 and sold them to the private investors.
Shortage of meters, he said, is a problem in the industry, adding that the issue has been compounded by the proliferation of low standard meters, with adverse effects on the voltage of electricity supplied by the power distribution companies (DisCos).
Speaking against the backdrop of a statement credited to the National Assembly that the sector is battling low quality meters, he said the agency has been trying to discourage people from importing such meters into the country.
Ewesor said: “The agency has decided not to approve meters that fail pre-testing requirements, which include durability and the capacity of the meters.
“Any meter imported into the country without type set certificate can no longer be distributed or deployed in the country. Type set certificate is a kind of certificate given to the importers of meters that the meters are good enough to be deployed in the country. If somebody is bringing meters into the country, he must submit the meters to the NEMSA for pre-testing.
“The testing will show whether the meters would work in Nigeria or not. Having certified by NEMSA that the meters would work in the country, a certificate known as type set certificate would now be given to the owners or importers of the product.”
According to him, there is no adequate supply of meters in Nigeria, stressing that the problem is affecting individual and industrial users of meters in the country.
Ewesor, who is also the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, said the meters when supplied to the consumers by the DisCos are not well installed, noting that the issue is affecting the productivity of the meters.
He said neither has the problem slowed down the activities of the agency nor making it incompetent as alleged by a section of the public.
Ewusor said there have not been challenges facing the agency in the real sense of it, adding that the agency will pre-test only the meters that are submitted to it.
He said many DisCos have submitted their meters for testing, in line with the mandate of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that meters must be supplied for testing before they are deployed to the consumers.
He urged the power distribution companies to improve on the supply of meters, stressing that the issue would enable consumers access electricity as well as give them some level of respite.
