DISCos Gets April 30 Deadline For Metering Consumers As NERC Caps Estimated Bills To N1,800 Per Month

Electricity distribution companies in Nigeria have kicked against a new directive given by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on the capping of estimated bills to N1,800.

The Commission, in a move to put an end to unrealistic estimated bills on Tuesday, put a limit on the amounts that unmetered customers in different categories could be billed by estimation in a month.

Reacting to this order, an influential top official of one of the biggest Discos, said the  cap on estimated billing was  not in the interest of operators as it would  lead to high loss of  funds,  adding, “it will kill the industry’”

“It’s like using a big stick to hit someone’s head and the person refuses to die and then you think of using a nail to hit the person’s head, that is what they are doing.

However, many consumers think otherwise, because, over the years, they have borne the brunt of this unholy practice. many complained of paying as high as thirteen thousand (N13,000) Naira and above per month even when the light is not supplied, they are made to pay the huge bills.

Worried about the low level of prepaid meters deployment to electricity consumers, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has capped the amount, otherwise known as estimated bills that distribution companies can charge unmetered consumers.

According to an order repealing existing billing regulations of 2012, NERC expressed concern that just over 10 million electricity consumers have been metered in seven years, with about 52 percent being invoiced on estimated billing. Under the new regulation, all unmetered residential and commercial (R2 and C1) customers shall not be invoiced for the consumption of energy beyond the cap stipulated in the Order according to designated distribution companies.

For consumers under Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, N24.30 per kWh was approved for R2 (above 50kw/hr) consumers and N37.39 for C1 (single & 3 phase) consumers. Under Eko Electricity, residential consumers will pay N24 per kWh, while commercial consumers will pay N30/kwh with different energy caps.R2S consumers under Ikeja Electric will pay N21.30 per kwh; R2T, N21.80; while C1S&T will pay N27.20 and N28.47, respectively.

NERC said in the Order: “The energy cap prescribed by the Commission shall only apply to R2 and C1 customers. All other customers on higher tariff classes must be metered by Discos no later than 30 April 2020, failing which these customers are not liable to pay any estimated bill issued by the Disco.

“Where a customer’s meter becomes faulty and a replacement meter cannot be provided by the Disco within two working days, the customer shall be billed an average of the last three months billing/vending in accordance with section 16(1) of the MAP regulations until the meter is replaced.NERC noted that the significant level of customer dissatisfaction arising from unrealistic estimated bills has also adversely impacted on the market revenues as a consequence of customer apathy and declining willingness to settle invoices in full.

NERC also acknowledged the shortcomings of the Meter Asset Provider scheme, stating that changes in fiscal policy and the limited availability of the long-term funding led to limited success in the meter roll-out. To address the issue and numerous complaints by consumers, NERC, yesterday, repealed estimated billing methodology regulation as the basis for computing the consumption of unmetered consumers, and also issued a deadline of April 30, 2020, for proper identification and metering of high energy users.