Urges DisCos to repair faulty meters within 48 hours, pay customers for wrongful disconnection

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has identified customers’ rejection of electricity meters and tampering with installed devices among the challenges facing distribution companies, alongside funding constraints that continue to affect meter deployment.

Principal Manager, Customer Protection, Stakeholders Management Division of the NERC, Atiseer Gberkon, while speaking during an X Space discussion on metering, said some customers rejected meters offered by distribution companies, while others tampered with installed devices, undermining their effectiveness.

“We have, of course, the issue of funding. We know that metering comes at a cost, and that’s why the Federal Government has come up with so many initiatives to help support DisCos in metering customers.

“We also have a major issue where some customers, after being metered, tamper with those meters. Once you tamper with that meter, it makes it ineffective. It’s as good as you’re not even metered because the meter is no longer doing what it was installed to do,” she said.

Olisa Chukwuma of the Commission’s Economic Regulation Division and a member of its Metering Committee, said 7.7 million customers, representing 61.5 per cent of the total, had meters, leaving 38.5 per cent without devices to measure their electricity consumption directly.

Chukwuma said the Federal Government’s National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), launched through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), facilitated the installation of about 890,000 meters between 2021 and 2024.

The Commission said meters provided under government-led metering interventions were free to customers, saying that under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme, consumers who choose to pay for meters rather than wait for other interventions are entitled to a refund through energy credits.

Gberkon said that customers in the same feeder area could receive identical bills despite differences in household size, appliances and electricity usage.

She said the Commission calculates monthly estimated billing caps that distribution companies must observe when billing unmetered customers in states still under federal electricity regulation.

Meanwhile, NERC has reminded electricity consumers of their rights to prompt meter repairs, compensation for wrongful disconnection and refund for meters purchased under the MAP scheme.

The Commission also warned electricity distribution companies against charging reconnection fees when customers are disconnected without following the prescribed procedures.

The NERC outlined these rights and obligations of electricity consumers in a metering factsheet published on its official X handle yesterday, as part of efforts to improve consumer awareness and compliance with regulations in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).

According to the factsheet, faulty electricity meters must be repaired or replaced within 48 hours of being reported, while customers who are wrongfully disconnected are entitled to energy credits equivalent to their average consumption for three months for every day they are left without electricity.

The Commission said the measures were designed to protect consumers and provide clearer guidance on resolving disputes with their electricity distribution companies.

It said that customers who pay upfront for meters under the MAP scheme must have their meters installed within 10 days of full payment, adding that customers who purchase meters under the scheme are entitled to reimbursement through energy credits spread over 120 months, with the credits not permitted to be offset against existing debts.