Western Africa Region

Abstract

West Africa is one of the regions in Sub Saharan Africa and is made up of 16 nations. This chapter focuses on select countries in West Africa; specifically Ghana and Nigeria and analyses their experience with prepaid electricity metering. Ghana and Nigeria have electrification rates of 85% and 62% respectively. Prepaid metering was introduced in Ghana in the year 1995, whilst Nigeria introduced prepaid metering in 2005. Both nations introduced prepaid metering to improve revenue collection and ensure financial probity; however, this journey has not been without challenges. The primary challenge amongst others has been the lack of a nationwide prepaid metering roll-out and an unstable infrastructure for electricity units top-up. To combat this challenge, and ensure a widespread roll-out of prepaid meters, smart prepaid meters, which enable communication between the utility and the consumers, are proposed for both nations.