The Federal Government has successfully secured N700 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee to fund the deployment of 1.1 million electricity meters across the country by December 2025. The announcement was made in Lagos on Tuesday during the 2025 Nigerian Energy Forum, themed “Powering Nigeria through Investment, Innovation, and Partnership.”
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said the programme forms a core part of the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI). According to him, “the initiative is part of the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI), a comprehensive plan to close Nigeria’s metering gap, strengthen revenue assurance, and promote transparency in the electricity supply chain.” He added that the PMI effort will work alongside the 3.2 million meters being procured under the World Bank–backed Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP).
Adelabu said the government will leverage bilateral funding and developmental finance to draw private sector investment, specifically targeting underserved communities, schools, hospitals, and public institutions. He noted that “in the past two years, more than $2 billion has been mobilised through key programmes, including the World Bank’s DARES, NSIA’s RIPLE, and the JICA fund.” The minister also revealed that agreements from the 2025 Renewable Energy Innovation Forum will deliver nearly 4 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity annually, which is about 80 percent of Nigeria’s current generation output.
Under the Electricity Act 2023 reforms, states are now empowered to create sub-national electricity markets. Adelabu said that “fifteen states have received regulatory autonomy, with one fully operational.” He added that the government is working to align wholesale and retail electricity markets. Adelabu further claimed that tariff reforms have improved supply consistency, cut industrial energy costs, and driven sector revenue from N1 trillion in 2023 to N1.7 trillion in 2024, with projections to top N2 trillion by 2025.
Additionally, the president has approved a N4 trillion bond to settle verified debts owed to power generation and gas supply companies. The bond is paired with a specially targeted subsidy plan for vulnerable electricity consumers.
“In Nigeria’s power sector reform journey,” Adelabu emphasized, “through sustained investment, innovation, and strong partnerships, we can power Nigeria’s journey toward a brighter, more resilient energy future.”
Metering Progress & Challenges
Mid-October saw the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) approve a disbursement of N28 billion to distribution companies (DisCos) under the Meter Acquisition Fund (MAF) Tranche B. That fund supports prepaid meter procurement and installation for currently unmetered customers, while preserving a revenue model for DisCos.
According to NERC’s Q2 2025 report, 225,631 meters were installed during that quarter, which is a 20.55 percent rise from the 187,161 installed in Q1. Among those, 147,823 units (65.52 percent) were through the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme; 65,315 via MAF; 12,259 through vendor financing; and 234 under DisCo financing.
Despite this momentum, as of June 2025 only 6,422,933 out of 11,821,194 registered customers in Nigeria’s power sector had been metered, a national metering rate of 54.33 percent. That leaves nearly half of all customers still reliant on estimated billing.
