If you paid out of your own pocket for a prepaid meter under the MAP scheme, your DISCO owes you that money back through energy credits — and a fresh 2026 NERC directive means millions of naira in unpaid refunds are now legally required to be cleared. This guide shows you exactly where to look on your bill or token receipt to confirm whether you're getting yours.

Quick Answer

If you paid for your meter under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme, your DISCO must refund the full cost through energy credits, spread over a 120-month period. Prepaid customers should see a second, distinct token generated automatically by the 4th of every month; postpaid customers should see a separate credit line on their bill. Check your last few token receipts or bills for this exact line item — if it's missing, you're not yet receiving your reimbursement, and you have grounds to complain directly to NERC.

Who Qualifies for a Meter Refund

You're entitled to this refund if you paid for your prepaid meter under the MAP scheme — whether you paid the full cost upfront or through the Meter Service Charge (MSC) installment plan — at any point since the scheme began in 2018. This does not apply if you received your meter completely free under the NMMP or DISREP government scheme, since there was no cost to you to begin with.

How the Refund Actually Works (Energy Credits, Not Cash)

Don't expect a bank transfer or an alert — the refund comes back to you as electricity, not money. Under NERC's amended 2026 order, the full cost of your MAP meter is amortized over 120 months (10 years), based on your prevailing tariff. Specifically:

  • If you're on prepaid, your DISCO's billing system is required to automatically generate a second token by no later than the 4th of every month, with an energy value equal to that month's reimbursement instalment.
  • If you're on postpaid, the monthly reimbursement must appear as a separate, distinct credit line on your bill — clearly subtracted from your total amount payable, not buried inside the main charge.
  • In both cases, NERC requires this to appear as its own line item showing the energy cost, the value being refunded that period, and your remaining outstanding meter balance — not folded silently into your regular bill.
  • Crucially, this reimbursement credit cannot legally be used by your DISCO to offset any unrelated debt you owe them. If your DISCO is quietly netting your refund against arrears instead of crediting it separately, that's a violation you can report.

How to Check If You're Owed a Refund and How Much

  1. Pull up your last two or three token purchase receipts (check your SMS, email, or whichever platform/app you used to buy) if you're prepaid, or your last two or three monthly bills if you're postpaid.
  2. Look specifically for a second, separate line item distinct from your regular purchase or charge — it should reference the meter cost reimbursement or refund, not just your normal energy units.
  3. If you're prepaid and only see one token generated for the amount you actually paid, with nothing extra appearing automatically around the same date each month, you are very likely not currently receiving your reimbursement.
  4. If you're postpaid and your bill shows only the standard energy charge with no separate credit line, the same applies.
  5. If you genuinely can't tell from your receipts, call your DISCO's customer care line and ask directly: "Can you confirm the outstanding balance on my MAP meter reimbursement and when my last credit was applied?" This is a specific enough question that a properly trained agent should be able to answer it from your account, rather than giving a vague answer about the programme in general.

The 2026 Catch-Up Period — Why You Might See Two Tokens a Month Right Now

As of December 31, 2025, DISCOs nationwide were still sitting on ₦20.33 billion in unpaid meter reimbursements. NERC's amended order now requires that backlog to be fully cleared within 12 months starting March 1, 2026. To make up for the lost time, DISCOs are required to accelerate repayment during this catch-up window — which is why, right now, prepaid customers affected by the backlog should expect to see two separate tokens generated monthly rather than one, and postpaid customers should see two separate reimbursement line items rather than one. If you're only seeing the normal single monthly reimbursement and you know you were part of the backlog, that's worth flagging directly with your DISCO, since the accelerated catch-up rate should be visible on your account during this period.

A Worked Example of How This Should Look

The exact naira figures vary by DISCO and meter type, but the math itself is simple once you know your original meter cost. Take your receipt's purchase amount, divide it by 120, and that's roughly the minimum monthly credit you should be seeing reflected as a separate line item (more during the current 2026 catch-up period, since the backlog is being cleared faster than the standard rate). For example, if you paid ₦70,000 for your meter, ₦70,000 divided by 120 comes to a little over ₦580 a month in energy credit, on top of whatever you actually pay for units that month. It won't look like much on any single receipt, but it adds up, and the point of checking isn't really about the size of any one month's credit — it's about confirming the line item exists at all, since DISCOs that aren't running the process correctly tend to show nothing rather than a small amount.

Does This Apply If You Got Your Meter for Free Under NMMP or DISREP?

No. The refund obligation only exists because you spent your own money under the MAP scheme. If your meter came through the government's free metering programme, there was never a cost to you in the first place, so there's nothing to be reimbursed. Don't confuse the two schemes when raising a complaint, since quoting the wrong programme name to your DISCO's support team is a common reason these complaints get misdirected or delayed at the first point of contact.

What If You Bought Through an Agent or Reseller, Not Directly From an Official MAP Provider

Refunds under this NERC order apply specifically to meters acquired through the recognized MAP framework, where a licensed Meter Asset Provider supplied the meter through your DISCO's official process. If you paid an informal agent or someone outside that official channel, your claim is weaker, since there's no documented MAP transaction tied to your account for the DISCO to reimburse against. This is one more reason it's worth keeping your original installation paperwork — it's your proof that the purchase went through the recognized scheme rather than an unofficial side arrangement.

What to Do If You're Not Seeing Your Refund

  1. Contact your DISCO's dedicated meter reimbursement complaints channel. NERC's 2026 order specifically requires every DISCO to set up a dedicated email address just for this issue — ask your DISCO's general customer care line for this specific contact if you can't find it advertised on their website.
  2. Put your complaint in writing (email is best, since it creates a timestamped record) and include your meter number, the date and amount you originally paid, and copies of your last few receipts or bills showing no reimbursement line.
  3. Ask for a written response confirming your outstanding balance and expected monthly credit amount going forward.
  4. If you get no meaningful response within a reasonable window — give it two to three weeks given the volume of complaints DISCOs are currently processing under this directive — escalate to NERC directly.

What Counts as Evidence of Payment

Gather these before you complain, since vague complaints without documentation are far more likely to get a generic response:

  • Your original payment receipt or invoice from when you bought the meter
  • A bank statement or transaction alert showing the payment, if you no longer have the receipt
  • Your meter installation slip showing the meter number and installation date
  • Any MAP framework agreement or form you signed at the point of purchase, if you still have it

Common Problems (If This Doesn't Work)

Your DISCO says they have no record of your payment This happens more often with older MAP purchases from 2018 to 2020, when record-keeping across some DISCOs was less digitized. Your bank statement showing the debit, even years later, is strong enough evidence to push back on this — banks retain transaction records well beyond what most DISCOs claim to have access to internally.

Your DISCO says the refund has "already been completed" but you've never seen a separate line item Ask them to send you a full statement of the reimbursement history on your account, month by month. If they can't produce one, that itself is evidence the refund process wasn't actually run on your account as required.

You bought your meter years ago under what you were told was a 3-year repayment plan The original 2018 MAP regulation set a 36-month amortization period, but the rules have since been amended more than once, most recently to the 120-month period referenced above. If you were quoted a shorter timeline originally and it's now taking longer, that reflects the regulatory update rather than your DISCO arbitrarily extending your repayment — though it's still fair to ask your DISCO to clarify your current outstanding balance under the latest rules.

You moved out of the property where the meter was installed The meter and its associated refund are typically tied to the property and the account, not to you personally as an individual. If you've relocated, your refund entitlement generally doesn't transfer with you unless you formally transferred the account or meter ownership when you moved — confirm directly with your old DISCO account whether anything is still owed and how that gets resolved.

You're not sure if your meter was MAP or one of the free schemes If you can't remember which scheme you went through, check your original installation paperwork or receipt — a genuine MAP transaction will show a specific payment amount tied to the meter, while a free NMMP/DISREP meter will show no charge at all on your account history. If you genuinely have no paperwork either way, your DISCO's CCU can look up your account history and tell you which scheme your meter was issued under, since this is recorded against your meter number regardless of whether you kept your own copy of the paperwork.

How to Escalate to NERC

  1. Email your complaint, with all supporting evidence attached, directly to complaints@nerc.gov.ng.
  2. If you paid under MAP and weren't metered at all within 10 working days of payment, this is treated as a separate, urgent complaint category — report it the same way, with evidence of payment.
  3. You can also call NERC headquarters on 0201 344 4331 or 0908 899 9244 if you'd rather follow up by phone after submitting your written complaint.
  4. Keep a copy of everything you send, including the date, since NERC requires DISCOs to report monthly on outstanding complaints, and a documented trail strengthens your case if your complaint needs to be referenced in a later compliance check.

Refund mechanics and amortization periods in this space have changed more than once since 2018 and may well change again, so treat the 120-month figure here as current as of this writing and confirm with NERC or your DISCO if a meaningful amount of time has passed since you're reading this.

Bookmark this page — we update it whenever NERC issues a new order on meter reimbursements. Still not seeing your refund after escalating? Drop your DISCO and roughly when you paid for your meter in the comments and we'll help you figure out the next step. The more detail you can share — exact payment date, meter type, and what your last few receipts actually showed — the easier it is to tell whether you're dealing with a simple oversight or something that needs a formal NERC complaint.