The Pain Of Estimated PHCN Billing And What Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission Must Do ASAP

Last month, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission placed limits on estimated billings that can be issued by electricity distribution companies to unmetered customers.

But surprisingly, one of the distribution companies in charge of the Ifako Ijaiye area of Lagos state, where the power supply is fairly stable sent a crazy estimated bill of N13,000 to me again as against the regulatory stipulations that prohibit the issuance of bills above N1,800, until a prepaid meter is issued.

In my flat we are forced to pay above N9,000 monthly per flat, an amount we hardly will consume should prepaid meters be issued. We are always threatened with disconnection where you fail to pay the crazy bill

Many Nigerians sighed a sigh of relief when NERC issued the ultimatum forbidding DisCos from issuing crazy estimated billing to Class R2 customers; (users using single-phase tariff class whose energy consumption cap of 78 kilowatt-hours per month and a tariff of N42 per kilowatt-hour) until a prepaid meter is issued.

It means that the maximum bill that an Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) can issue to customers in the category mentioned above should be 78kWhr x N24/kWhr which translates to N1,872 per month until a prepaid meter is installed, NERC said.

We are therefore calling on the authorities to enforce total compliance to the directives. , we must share this information until it gets to the authorities.