DisCos to pay consumers N10.5b over estimated billing

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will deduct N10.5 billion from the accounts of the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) operating in the country over arbitrary billing of unmetered customers.

NERC, in a release yesterday, said the fund would be deducted during the next tariff review, adding that the move would deter future non-compliance with the energy caps approved by the Commission

In 2020, NERC took a significant step by issuing an Order on Capping of Estimated Bills (Order No: NERC/197/2020). This directive was followed by the issuance of monthly energy caps, strategically designed to synchronise estimated bills for unmetered customers with the measured consumption of their metered counterparts on the same supply feeder.

This initiative was aimed at bringing about fairness and accuracy in the billing process, aligning it with actual consumption patterns. NERC revealed that its review of the billing of unmetered customers for 2023 showed non-compliance with the monthly energy caps issued by the commission.

Over eight million Nigerians are still billed arbitrarily in the country amidst the inability of the Federal Government and the utility companies to provide meters to end-users.

While Nigeria currently has about 13 million registered grid connected electricity customers, only about five million have been metered since the electricity sector was privatised over 10 years ago. In November last year, only about 51,631 customers were metered across the country as the rate of metering in the country remained at 44.23 per cent.

NERC said the sanction against estimated billing would safeguard unmetered customers from arbitrary billing by DisCos, adding that that the commission, pursuant to Section 34 sub-section one of the Electricity Act 2023 issued the Order on Non-Compliance with Capping of Estimated Bills.

The order, with number NERC/2024/004-014 compelled DisCos to issue Credit Adjustment to Customers, especially all overbilled unmetered customers for the period January to September 2023 by the March 2024 billing cycle.

DisCos have also been directed to publish the list of credit adjustment beneficiaries in two national dailies and on their website no later than March 31, 2024.