By Bassey Udo
New meters being distributed and installed by electricity consumers across the country under the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP) are completely free of charge, the Federal Government clarified on Wednesday.
The clarification was made by the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Ayodeji Gbeleyi, during a press briefing at the end of a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja.
The meeting concerned by BPE was attended by key players in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NES), including the regulatory authority – the NIgerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) ànd Chief Executive Officers of all the electricity distribution companies in the country (DISCOs) as well as the meter manufacturers.
In his introductory remarks, the DG of BPE said the supply and installation of smart meters under the DISREP initiative is completely free to all Nigerian electricity consumers who need meters, as part of government’s effort to close the huge metering gap in the NESI.
He quoted data from the NERC, which showed that there are currently about 5.66 million unmetered customers NESI ecosystem.
In the first phase of the DISREP programme, he said an international competitive bidding process was organized for the selection of suppliers of a total of 1,437,500 units of smart prepaid meters, both in single phase and triple phase.
He said the meters have been imported, about 700,000 units already in the country, while about 200,000 have been installed by the DISCos to electricity consumers across the country.
He said the second bidding process was for the supply of 217,000 units ofmeters by local meter manufacturers.
Describing the DISREP programme as a collaborative effort by all key stakeholder in the electricity sector led at ministerial level by the Minister of Power, with BPE co-chair in the technical committee, and all other stakeholders, including TCN, NERC, and NEMSA, which verifying and testing the meters before being deployed.
Also, the BPE DG said under the World Bank meter-financing initiative, about 1,437,501 smart meters were to be delivered before May 28, 2026.
Giving an update on the initiative, he said strong progress has been made in the manufacturing and supply of the equipment, with about 1,088,027 units of meters, representing about 75% of the total requirement, already manufactured as of today.
Out the total number manufactured, he said over 643,252 meters have been shipped and already in Nigeria, with NEMSA testing about 476,000 meter as at December 2025, out of which only 192,000, or just 13%, have been installed.
“As of today, NEMSA has tested a total of 544,924 meters,” he disclosed.
Despite all the investment by the government under the DISREP initiative, the BPE DG said the supply and distribution of the meters to consumers are completely free of charge, including their installation,along with all accessories.
“Nigerians should not pay anything for meters, including their installation and all accessories. Any electricity consumers the DISCos demand payment before the meter is installed should report to the relevant authorities immediately for appropriate sanctions.
Gbeleyi said the stakeholders’ media briefing was important to help clarify some gray areas in the DISREP initiative, especially in regard to payment for the meters.
“The essence of this media briefing is to educate the public on the fine details and the modus operandi of the deployment of these meters under the DISREP programme.
“This is a major policy initiative of Mr. President in terms of ensuring that we have access to a reliable supply of power in the industry. As consumers, we are expected to pay, to help in terms of industry sustainability, liquidity, bankability, and ability to attract the financing to complement government efforts and investors’ efforts in financing the required investments in the DISCos,” he said.
In her presentation, the Director, Energy Sector Department, BPE, Aisha Tukur, explained that the DISREP initiative was a $500m World Bank loan to the FGN for onward lending to the DISCos, designed to improve their performance and financial sustainability.
The facility, she pointed out, focuses on closing the huge metering, reduce commercial losses, enhance revenue collection, and improve service delivery to electricity consumers.
Apart from supporting the DISCos by financing the bulk procurement of 3.2million smart customer and retail level meters, support Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS) for DISCos, as well as provides Technical Assistance (TA) for DISREP implementation, she said the facility was expected to ensure the development of capacity building programmes to support DISCos in strengthening their operations and process.
She therefore urged Nigerians to embrace the initiative, saying “DISREP represents a major step toward building a more reliable, transparent, and financially sustainable electricity distribution sector in Nigeria.”
“By combining infrastructure investment, performance-based financing, and governance reforms, the programme aims to deliver measurable improvements in electricity service delivery and customer experience,” she added
