The Federal Government has imposed a nationwide ban on electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and meter installers from charging consumers for the installation of electricity meters, warning that violators will face prosecution.
The directive was issued by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, during an inspection of a new shipment of imported smart meters at APM Terminals in Apapa, Lagos, on Thursday, January 22.
The meters were procured under the World Bank–funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP), which aims to close Nigeria’s metering gap and improve transparency in electricity billing.
Adelabu emphasized that all meters supplied through the programme must be installed at no cost to consumers, regardless of customer category. “It is an offence for any DisCo official or installer to request a single naira from consumers before installation. These meters must be distributed and installed completely free of charge,” he said.
He disclosed that approximately 500,000 additional smart meters had arrived, adding to earlier deliveries under the initiative.
The DISREP programme targets the procurement of 3.4 million meters in two phases. Of the initial batch of 1.43 million meters, nearly one million have already been delivered to Nigeria, with about 150,000 installed across the country.