FG to commence free distribution of 4m electricity metres

FEDERAL government is set to commence the distribution of the four million free electricity prepaid metres as recently promised by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

  Minister of Power, Mamman Saleh, dropped the hint yesterday while fielding questions from State House Correspondents after  the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari in Presidential Villa, Abuja.

  According to Saleh, government was almost getting through with the distribution of its initial one million meters to Nigerians under the Phase Zero and would soon commence the distribution of the four million under Phase One.

  Explaining further that government was making sure that supply was stable and also working towards ensuring that it upgrades the supply “from say 4000 megawatts to 5000 to 6000 to 7000 megawatts and so on,” Saleh added that the more we replace some obsolete and outdated equipment, the more we improve the supply of electricity.

  On the report that  over 70 per cent of Nigerians who have electricity supply have less than 12 hours a day, he said government graded the supply based on the metering.

    It will be recalled that CBN had recently promised to augment government’s distribution of free prepaid meters with additional four million units, and to this end, it disbursed N123.34 billion to Distribution Companies (DisCos) to boost electricity supply in the country in March.