The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has announced the deregulation of meter prices under the meter asset provider (MAP) scheme for end-user customers.

This is contained in a circular issued by the commission on Monday.

In September 2023, NERC approved an increase in the prices of single-phase electricity meters to N81,975.16 and three-phase meters was increased to N143,836.10.

According to the circular, from May 1, all prices of meters under the MAP scheme will be determined through a competitive bidding process with customers provided with a choice of authorised vendors.

According to the commission, the review is based on the need for the efficient pricing of meters “to respond more quickly to changes in macroeconomic parameters, particularly exchange rates”.

“The cost of prices of meters deployed under the MAP scheme is thereby to enable end-use customers acquire meters from MAPS of their choice based on competitive open market prices determined from transparent bidding frameworks,” NERC said.

“All MAP permits holders are henceforth eligible to provide services and transact for the provision of meters and metering services with any Disco in the Federal Republic of Nigeria with their existing permit.

“The lifting of the restriction on permitting to operate in all DisCos is subject to the mandatory requirement for MAPS to comply with the associated DisCo specific requirements/specifications.”

NERC said all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) would ensure the effective and seamless integration of smart meters deployed by MAPS with DisCo’s head-end systems and metre data management systems.

Two Nigerian fintech companies have paused enrollment of new customers following a directive from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The affected fintechs are Opay and Moniepoint.

Confirming the development to newsmen on Monday, an official at one of the fintech firms, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they have started complying with the directive.

“I can tell you that compliance is on. You can try onboarding to see that we have complied,” the official said.

Another fintech official also confirmed the situation, hinting CBN’s directive is related to foreign exchange (FX) transactions, which the firm has no business with.

Newsmen also attempted to open a new account with one of the fintech but a message from the platform said “we couldn’t complete your account opening process. We will let you know as soon as we can”.

The development is coming amid the federal government’s effort to address illicit foreign exchange transactions in the country as well as operations of Binance and other cryptocurrency exchange platforms.

On February 27, Olayemi Cardoso, CBN governor, said $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria from unidentified sources in one year.

Cardoso said the apex bank was collaborating with different agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the police, and the office of the national security adviser (NSA) to tackle illicit financial flows in the country.

On April 23, the EFCC said it froze over 300 accounts linked to illicit foreign exchange (FX) trading.

Meanwhile, in a ruling delivered on April 24, a federal high court in Abuja has granted an interim order to the EFCC to freeze at least 1,146 bank accounts belonging to individuals and companies over “unauthorised foreign exchange” transactions.

A competition and consumer protection tribunal (CCPT) in Abuja has stopped Multi-Choice Nigeria Limited from increasing its tariffs and cost of products and services scheduled to begin on May 1.

A three-member tribunal led by Saratu Shafii gave the interim order following an ex-parte motion moved by Ejiro Awaritoma, counsel to Festus Onifade, the applicant.

The tribunal, in the ruling, restrained Multi-Choice from going ahead with the impending price increase pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice filed before it.

“The 1st defendant is hereby restrained from taking any step(s) that may negatively affect the rights of the claimant and other consumers in respect of the suit pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” Shafii ruled.

Shafii also directed all parties in the suit to appear before the tribunal at 10 a.m. on May 7 for the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

Onifade, a legal practitioner, filed the suit marked CCPT/OP/2/2024, against Multi-Choice Nigeria Ltd and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Monday.

On April 24, Multichoice Nigeria announced an increase in the cost of subscriptions for its DStv and GOtv packages.

The pay-TV firm cited the rise in the cost of business operations as the rationale behind the price increase.