365NEWS gathered that the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has cautioned electricity consumers against paying for replacement of obsolete or faulty meters, saying it is the responsibility of electricity distribution companies, DisCos, to replace the meters.
The Commission in a statement on Monday explained that as long as meters were not tempered with by consumers, replacement must be done by the utilities at no cost to the consumers.
Data from NERC showed that as of the end of the second quarter of 2024, 45 percent, or 5.99 million, out of 13.19 million customers in the industry had meters, leaving over seven million customers subjected to estimated billing.
NERC said it “is aware that some Distribution Companies have instructed customers to apply and pay for the replacement of faulty and obsolete meters within their franchise areas. This instruction contravenes the Commission’s Order No. NERC/246/2021 on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
“The Order clearly states that no customer with a meter should be forcefully migrated to estimated billing. If any customer’s meter is adjudged by any DisCo to be obsolete or faulty, it is the responsibility of the DisCo to replace the meter free of charge, provided that the fault was not caused by the customer.
“The Commission restates its commitment to protect customers’ interests and rights by ensuring compliance with established regulatory standards and enforcing regulatory penalties for non-compliance by its licensees”.
Meanwhile, consumer advocacy group, Association for Public Policy Analysis, has called for a probe into how electricity distribution companies utilized the N200 billion Mass Metering Fund advanced by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The group in statement by its President, Chief Princewill Okorie said:
“Our research has revealed that a seed capital of N200 billion was invested to facilitate the programme which was to be implemented in three phases, with the sum of N59.280 billion set aside for the pilot phase to provide one million meters.
“As an association with the objective of analysing public policies of government with a view to identifying challenges to effective public policy implementation and its impact on citizens, and carrying out advocacy programmes aimed at proffering solutions for improved public policy implementation for the overall well being of citizens, we are constrained to call on the House of Representatives Committee on Banking Regulations not to fail Nigeria Electricity Consumers who are expecting that the outcome of their investigation shall address the challenges of metering in the electricity sector.
“Our major concern in this regard is that rather than address Nigerians on the status of the National Mass Metering Programme which N200 billion naira was to be committed to, and over N59 billion disbursed for implementation of the pilot phase in 2020, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu disclosed that the Federal Government has procured 1.8 million meters to curb estimated billing without throwing light on the metering policies such as the Meter Assets Provider introduced in 2018 and the National Mass Metering Program introduced by Government before his emergence as the Minister of Power.
“There is a need for evaluation of the successes or otherwise of these earlier introduced policies for which consumers and government had spent money on since 2018 before speaking on the new steps. This calls for the oversight and investigative role of the Legislature”.
