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00:00Nigeria's presidential metering initiative is still on course with a sum of 700 billion
00:06naira set aside from the federation account for the implementation of the distribution
00:12of free electricity meters under the initiative. Now that's according to the special advisor to
00:17the minister of power on strategic communications and media Bolaji Tunji who says two million meters
00:23expected every year and the delivery of the first batch will start by the first quarter
00:29of next year. Meanwhile Nigeria's senate has also begun to probe into the activities
00:33of generation companies the transmission company of Niger as well as discos for inefficiencies
00:38recorded since the privatization of the sector. George Otomi, the founder of George Otomi and
00:45partners joins me now for more on these discussions. Mr Otomi thanks a lot for joining us on the show
00:50today. Now the mindset around closing the metering gap is all about understanding this will continue
00:56to remain a shifting target. Let's have your take on the performance we've seen from the different
01:02metering plans, the strategy involved and how this narrows down into the sort of prospects and what
01:07might likely pan out for this presidential metering initiative which is targeting about
01:11two million meters annually and expected to kick off by the first quarter of next year.
01:17Thank you very much David and compliments of the season. Metering goes to the heart of
01:24the distribution business because it's that's what creates trust between the consumer and the
01:31utility company and it was always recognized from the onset of the privatization that the
01:38metering gap needed to be closed. Now it was also discovered that on account of the unrealistic
01:47tariffs there was no way the distribution companies could carry the burden of free metering
01:54as it were. So the regulator introduced what they call the CAPME. This was one of the methods,
02:03Accredited Advanced Payments Metering Initiative which enabled the DISCOs to allow customers to
02:13pay in advance for their meters and then slowly credit them back. That was the whole idea behind
02:20it and if you ask me when privatization took place CAPME was working but then inexplicably
02:30that was then changed to map the meter asset provider regime. This time it took metering
02:38out of the hands of the distribution companies and put them in third party meter provider's
02:45hands. They work with DISCOs to provide meters. In a sense it removed the primary responsibility for
02:54metering from the DISCOs and that's the regime we still have today. Map is struggling and it's
03:01struggling again on account of unrealistic meter pricing. In fact there was a time,
03:08for a long time metering was halted because the maps did not agree with the regulator
03:15on what a fair price would be given the entire macroeconomic circumstances we have,
03:21the collapse of the Naira, the FX exchange rates and all that affected like every other commodity
03:28at the price of meters. So coming now the Federal Government's Presidential Metering Initiative
03:34which is then designed to roll out meters as rapidly as possible. It's a very welcome initiative
03:43and as has been announced by the ministry it will add about two million meters per quarter. I hope
03:50that target can be met but the whole idea behind that is that the meters should be rolled out
03:56given to customers as it were for free and any adjustments can take place. The idea being that
04:03the metering gap which currently continues to expand because as you meter people more
04:12more customers come onto the networks and then you also need to replace
04:16agent meters. I'm sure you've heard about the Unistar meters which some DISCOs want to change
04:25on account of the new international metering standard, the STS standard that requires that
04:32all meters should conform with this standard because it helps give what they call revenue
04:38assurance and gives comfort to the consumer that he's actually being charged what he is consuming.
04:47Well Mr Otomi now while we are also looking at prospects ahead now we have the Naira
04:52extending the deadline for meter upgrades to January 2025. Now Nigeria has not necessarily
04:59gotten it right when it comes to registration process and upgrading individuals onto a bigger
05:05platform which has told us to support the efficiency levels we see in the market here
05:10but for you now going with this mindset of putting timelines for upgrades like this,
05:15your take around that and also with the latest fillers we are having from the FCCPC cautioning
05:20DISCOs against flouting the meter replacement directive. Your take on some of these developments?
05:28Well as I mentioned to you there's a global shift to modern metering standards. It's not
05:35dissimilar to what you're finding with the banks who are now upgrading their networks. That's
05:40essentially what DISCOs are doing. They need to upgrade their network to accommodate this new
05:47metering standard and that should be encouraged because like I mentioned to you that's what gives
05:54us revenue assurance. Otherwise we will never put estimated billing behind us. With this metering
06:01standard it must happen. ECODISCO and EKEDJA DISCO have been quite
06:09confident with ensuring that all the meters in their networks conform to the standard. Initially
06:16the date set was November 24 I believe this year but that's now been moved to January just to give
06:24enough time for this cutover. As I speak to you, consumers are being given codes they need to
06:34insert into their present meters. Not all meters require to be changed. Let me make that position
06:39clear. All you need is a code that will then enable you to upgrade to this new standard and then for
06:46the new meters that are being installed they already conform. So it's just essentially moving
06:52away from the analog metering regime to a fully digitized metering regime and that's a welcome
06:59Yes Mr. Otomi, I had a pretty bad experience with that meter upgrade. I tried at least five times
07:04and I had to do a trip out of the country before coming back to face it. So it's quite a hurdle here
07:10and this extension over the timeline definitely is a welcome development. But wrapping up the
07:14conversation, let's talk about the Senate's probe into the DISCOs, GENCOs and then the TCN.
07:20Although what it has termed as the failure of the privatization of the power sector. Now these
07:27are years since the privatization of the sector, yet we are dealing with the same
07:34old issues. For you looking ahead into 2025, do you think we have any gains to cash in from the
07:40privatization of the sector? Certainly, there's a lot of momentum that has happened. I always
07:50like in this whole privatization exercise to somebody who was like 100 feet below the ground,
07:56you've managed to dig yourself to 50 feet. But because you are still below the ground,
08:02people will not know that you've done 50% of the job. Today there's far more knowledge of
08:08how the electricity works than it was before and knowledge is power. Many people, we all talk now
08:15DISCOs, GENCOs, TCN, we all know the interplay. Even if it is just for the democratization of
08:22the knowledge in the power sector, the privatization has been a huge success. But when
08:28you go down to the granular details, I mean, it comes in components. It comes from gas supply,
08:36to generation, to transmission, to distribution. And we now all know that we have a problem with
08:43gas supply in this country. And without gas, most of the thermal plants we provide for 80%
08:50of our electricity will be starting in fits and starts. And when you have a heat cups and
08:56degeneration mechanism, it affects TCN. Now, TCN is the only member of this value chain that has
09:04not been privatized, so fully government. And we can see that it still has all its inefficiencies.
09:10The grid is antiquated. There is hardly any method by which you can troubleshoot for problems,
09:17and so forth and so on. And if the transporter of the electricity does not get into the DISCOs,
09:23how can consumers get light? So when I hear the Senate saying the DISCOs are failed,
09:30and the only way a DISCO can make money is if it gives light to the customer. So it doesn't
09:35make any logical sense for them to have electricity, they are not give it. So they just have
09:41it. You only give what you have. So and then onward, because we are too quick to reversing
09:46and do whatever we like. All these things are contract-based. There are laws already in place.
09:51The new Electricity Act brings states into play. I don't know how you begin to disenfranchise them.
09:58And then of course, this matter could deteriorate to legal action, arbitration, and all that. We
10:05don't need that in the sector, otherwise no investment will come in. And this sector needs
10:10new money, which is not here, to come in. So we need to allow an enabling environment
10:15and consolidate on the gains of the privatisation. Those of us who are around know that the banking
10:21revolution didn't happen overnight. There were hiccups, but they kept cleaning it until what
10:26we find today. So what we just require is patience. Okay, what is required is patience.
10:30We'll leave the conversation here for now, Mr Etoome. Thanks a lot for your time in the show
10:34today. That was George Etoome, the founder of George Etoome and Partners.