State governors have called on the federal government to enforce a “no-meter, no-service” policy for all new electricity connections in the country.

The plea was outlined in the Development of the National Integrated Electricity Policy & Strategic Implementation Plan: Policy Recommendations by State Governments to the Federal Ministry of Power document from the Nigeria Governors’ Forum.

In the document, state governments highlighted the critical importance of electricity meters in bridging the significant metering gap, which is essential for the viability of sub-national markets.

The states also argued that State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) should have the autonomy to determine the most suitable meter technology, type, and form for deployment within their respective electricity markets.

The document read: “States believe that the provision of electricity meters to close the huge metering gap is a necessary requirement to make sub-national markets viable. However, SERCs in conjunction with the Distribution Licensees should be allowed to determine the meter technology, type and form of meters to be deployed within their states’ electricity markets, taking into consideration the cost of meters, extent of the telecommunications coverage in the State, tariff methodologies adopted by the SERC (fixed tariff, time of use, etc) and metering requirement in urban and rural communities and across customer categories arising from their energy consumption.

“States are of the view that the national electricity policy should mandate an immediate “no-meter, no-service” policy for all new connections, to prevent the metering gap from further increasing.

This is as the states are getting set to eliminate electricity subsidies in their territories as more states gear up to join others in running their different power markets under their own laws.

The document noted that the states have said they would implement different electricity tariffs in their domains.

They made these recommendations based on the enactment of the Electricity Act 2023. The Electricity Act 2023 is a federal law which repeals the Electric Power Sector Reform Act and is the extant legal framework for the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry.