Nigeria, Jan. 8 -- Successive Nigerian governments have tried to close the country's yawning electricity metering gap, rolling out a series of ambitious programmes with limited success. Today, Nigeria still has a deficit of more than six million meters, out of an estimated 12 million electricity consumers.

Why does metering matter? Is it not simply another way to make Nigerians pay more at a time when wallets and purses are already under severe pressure? In reality, metering delivers benefits that many people do not fully appreciate.

Beyond its direct cost-control advantages for individual consumers-particularly those who have suffered the arbitrariness of estimated billing-metering strengthens the entire electricity system and, by exte...