OpeOluwani Akintayo
01 November 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Power Council of Nigeria has said unmetered customers will be entitled to 15 percent discount yearly within the period for which they remain unmetered.
According to a communique issued at the end of the third National Council On Power, NACOP, obtained by SweetcrudeReports, the Council instructed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Committee, NERC, to enforce on DisCos the policy directive, that any unmetered customer is obligated to pay only its last undisputed bill which should be discounted by 15 percent.
“If the Customer remains unmetered, the last undisputed bill should be discounted by 15% in each subsequent year that the customer remains unmetered provided that the failure to meter is not that of the customer but is the fault of the DisCo,” the council noted.
The Council was presided over by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, and supported by Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Surveillance, Suleiman Zarma Hassan, including Council members from 27 States of the federation.
NERC is also to enforce the regulation that prevents DisCos from connecting new unmetered consumers to their networks.
The Council also directed NERC to issue a regulatory order that requires all DisCos to complete credible customer enumeration that identifies the metering gap and make the result available according to a timeline prescribed by the regulatory body.
“In areas where customers are dissatisfied with the services they have currently, NERC regulations should give Customers the option of either contracting better services from service providers and generation companies through policies like the eligible customers regulation and mini-grids using varieties of generation technologies including LNG & CNG, obtaining better services by compelling DisCos to appoint retail agents, or obtaining better services by compelling the DisCos to relinquish its franchise to capable investors/service providers” the council added.
NERC is also to rigorously enforce sanctions on payment of disputed electricity bills, the communique read.
