In most of Sub-Saharan Africa, electric utilities are still a loss-making entity due to huge capital cost provisions for the purchase of infrastructure equipment, inefficient operations, continuous debt from customers, and a myriad of other factors. These challenges are evident in the Nigeria electricity supply chain. Within this supply chain, the distribution subsector is the most challenged with revenue generation resulting from a critical underlying problem associated with the large population of unmetered customers. This challenge also cascades to the transmission and generation subsectors because the distribution subsector is unable
to pay for the power generated and wheeled for provision of electricity to customers.

The Nigerian Government also recognises these issues, and the Power Sector Recovery Program was setup with series of interventions towards restoring the sectors financial viability. One of such interventions is the deployment of prepaid metering, identified as a technical solution to control non-payment of electricity bills and theft. However, deployment and installation of these meters to the customers have been difficult due to the acquisition process of the meters and installation capabilities.

This research investigates how metering (asset specificity) as an intervening mechanism will improve financial performance while exploring the role of supply chain integration (SCI) in designing an effective metering system. This study is grounded on Transaction
Cost Economics (TCE) theory because it focusses on how market inefficiencies can be reduced for better deployment of meters to customers. The research population for this study are employees working in eleven distribution utilities in Nigeria.

A sample size of 422 respondents with self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data and quantitative interpretations derived from the data analysis. The study identified costs, poor laws, regulations, increasing foreign exchange rate and technical capability as barriers to an effective metering system in Nigeria. The findings of the research show that there is need for stronger regulations, collation of credible customer data, and engagement of revenue managers. Most of the respondents believed that the recent metering efforts by the government has resulted in improved return on investments and return on sales, although progression of the metering program is slow. In addition, there is a positive relationship between internal integration and financial performance, which is strengthened through asset specificity.