NERC to Discos: Its Not Electricity Customers’ Duty to Replace Meters

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday reiterated the position of the extant laws and regulations as well as orders guiding the power sector in Nigeria, urging electricity customers not to pay for replacement of metering devices.

NERC stated that it was aware that some Distribution Companies (Discos) had instructed customers to apply and pay for the replacement of faulty and obsolete meters within their franchise areas.

However, according to NERC, the only time that the burden of changing bad meters should fall on the electricity consumer is when the fault detected was caused by the customer.

The instruction to customers by Discos, according to NERC, 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 (NESI).

In a statement on its X handle, the power sector regulator stated that aside the fact that it is the duty of Discos to buy meters, no customer should also be forcefully migrated to estimated billing.

“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,” NERC stated.

The commission restated 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.

“We urge customers to report cases of non-compliance to the order by any Disco,” the power sector regulator stated.

Despite the efforts by the federal government in the past to raise Nigeria’s meter penetration, a huge number of Nigerians are still under the estimated billing regime, which has been severally described as ‘daylight robbery’.