Top Story Utilities

DISCOs seek FG’s intervention on import duty for meters

The Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) have urged the Federal Government to intervene in the heavy import duties they used to pay  for imported meters.

They said that such an  intervention would help   to mitigate delays they usually encountered when clearing meters  at  the ports in a statement signed by Mr Sunday Oduntan on Friday in Lagos.

Oduntan is  the Executive Director, Research and Advocacy of  the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED).

He  said  that such  also would  enable the DISCOs  to quickly install meters for their electricity customers.

advertisement

The DISCOs  decried the high import duty and other hurdles, saying  that the challenges had been slowing down their metering targets as  advanced by the Meter Asset Providers (MAP) regulation.

Oduntan said  that some of the meter providers have the capacity to install about 3,000 meters per day for DISCOs if they were available.

He said, “There should be zero per cent import duty on meters.

“We must assist local meter manufacturers to bring in components duty-free until Ajaokuta is ready.”

advertisement
make-a-purchase-2

He said that the high import duty at the ports was killing the power sector.

He added that when customers are metered, they would be happy because estimated billing is not good for them and the  DISCOs.

“While those importing meters are finding it hard because of the import duty, the local meter manufacturers are also finding it difficult to continue production.

“This is because they have to pay import duties  on at least seven different components which they import for use in producing the meters in Nigeria.

advertisement

“These are separate companies but DISCOs support Meter Assets Providers (MAPs) and we want them to succeed,” Oduntan said.

Oduntan said that  with the current import duty and other challenges befalling the implementation of MAPs, the NERC order that DISCOs must  meter all electricity consumers by 2021 might not be realistic.

“There is an urgent need for government to intervene so that there will be more meters available to be installed,” he said.

Oduntan said that the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) recently confirmed that out of 1.023 million  meters expected for testing in the first phase of MAPs scheme which began in May 2019,NEMSA had tested and certified only 273,000 meters.

advertisement
make-a-purchase-2

He said that this was due to the hiccups the MAP firms were facing in the importation of meters.(NAN)

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.