The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has urged the Federal Ministry of Power, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Company (NBET) to ensure the full metering of power consumers nationwide.
Speaking in Abuja she added that effective and wholesome metering of electricity consumers by operators would facilitate increase in cash flow into the power sector and improve billing accuracy.
The Minister said that cash flows to the power sector would go a long way towards ensuring stability of federal government reforms in the sector, adding that, “If the market cannot pay for power distributed, the situation will remain unsustainable.”
Speaking further, Adeosun said, “It is unhealthy for the Federal Government of Nigeria to build an entire sector based on Sovereign Guarantees without simultaneously addressing key challenges inhibiting financial sustainability across the value chain.”
She added that, “The Federal Ministry of Finance is focused on achieving market sustainability in the long-term and requires that the NBET has a comprehensive plan to manage these exposures to avoid a drawdown on the PRGs.
“It is imperative that the Federal Ministry of Power, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and the NBET must ensure that meters are rolled out to improve billing accuracy and also improve distribution companies’ collections in order to increase cash flows to the power sector value chain,” she said
