Princewill Demian
22 January 2018, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Managing Director, Nigerian Electricity Service Agency (NEMSA), Mr. Peter Ewesor, has said Nigerians should be ready to spend more for electricity consumption with the noticeable improvement of power supply across the country.
To that extent, Ewesor advised consumers on the need to conserve energy, adding that Nigerians must learn how to conserve energy in their homes to effectively minimize their electricity bills.
The NEMSA boss, who made this known during a recent press briefing in Abuja to sensitise electricity consumers in the country on the standard expectations from the meters that Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) install in their homes and offices, also spoke on the latest trend customers have adopted in blaming the functionality of their meters when they had actually consumed billed units.
Ewesor noted that meters being installed by the Discos passed accuracy and compatibility tests administered by NEMSA before installation.
According to him, the test is normally carried out to ascertain the functionality of these meters in order to avoid cases of costumers being cheated by their distribution companies and vice versa, even as he noted that the agency had facilities to carry out required tests to declare that a meter was fit and proper for use in Nigeria.
“When there are complains of meter overrunning by consumers, the agency sends its officials out to verify such complaints. After installation, we deploy our men to go out there and check if the installations are properly done.
“When it is wrongly connected, the meters will read wrongly. We do follow up check to make sure that meters installed in the country are certified,” he said
Ewesor said some consumers who had been on five hours electricity supply before now, have had their supply increased to 10 to 18 hours daily due to increase in power generation.
“Since power supply has increased, consumers have to pay more for the supply. Maybe a consumer who was paying N3,000 monthly before now, has to triple the payment. But Nigeria consumers will still want to pay the same amount he used to pay when the power generation was low; this is wrong calculation. This is why every consumer has to do energy management or conservation in his house when electricity supply has improved so that he or she can pay less,” he said.
Mr. Ewesor noted that in fulfilling its obligation to ensure that customers are protected and not made to pay for services not rendered, NEMSA, which undertakes statutory technical regulation in Nigeria’s electricity supply industry ensures that the testing of meters before distribution to customers by the DisCos is compulsory and that the maximum failure rate it would allow in the testing and certification of meters for use would be 7.5 per cent.
The NEMSA boss stated that in a situation where the failure rate of the meters is higher than 7.5%, they will not be certified and will be banned from deployment to consumers by the Discos.
Ewesor explained that while it was the job of the Discos to provide meters to their customers, it is also the responsibility of consumers to verify the authenticity and working conditions of meters supplied and installed by the Discos.
He said undertaking such task would ensure that consumers do not lose money from incorrect meter readings and energy losses.
“Prior to the installation of any meter, every meter or metering equipment shall be submitted by the Disco to a meter testing station for routine tests and certification and this shall be confirmed by the attachment of a seal or certification sticker for the individual meters and metering equipment.
“The NEMSA Act 2015 specifies NEMSA to test, calibrate and certify all electricity meters and instruments used in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). And there are various types of meter test, which include type test, routine test and recertification test,” said Ewesor.
He further stated: “The meters to be deployed in the NESI must meet these mandatory tests requirements as specified in the Nigerian Metering Code Version 02 but we will not allow a failure rate that is above 7.5 per cent in our testing of meters.”
“7.5 per cent is the maximum failure rate we will allow, it is supposed to be a no-failure at all status but we decided to allow this, if it goes beyond that level, the meters will be considered completely useless and not allowed to be deployed in the sector by the Discos,” he added.
Ewesor stated that for every number of meters brought to NEMSA’s testing station, 10 per cent of it would be randomly picked for testing.
He added that the test stations in NEMSA in Lagos, Kaduna and Port Harcourt ensured that meters deployed to homes and companies by Discos meets requirements, adding however that any installer found wanting in the discharge of his duty would forfeit his certificate.
