OpeOluwani Akintayo
31 August 2017, Sweetcrude, Lagos — The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has listed three categories of electricity consumers who could be issued with estimated bills by their controlling discos.
According to the Commission, the first category of customers who should be given estimated bills, are those with faulty meters.
Explaining the above, NERC said customers with faulty meters are categorised under existing customers who have been issued metres but those metres are no longer functional.
The Commission said where a customer’s metre develops a fault and a complaint is appropriately made by the customer, the disco should repair or replace the faulty meter before the end of the billing cycle within which the complaint was made.
The second category falls within customers whose metres cannot be read.
According to NERC, those under the second unit are customers whose meter readings could not be obtained by the disco due to inaccessibility occasioned by locked doors, customers not being at home at the time of reading the meter, presence of dogs on the premises etc.
It then said whenever a disco is unable to obtain a meter reading at a customer’s premises and notifies the customer in a manner approved by the commission, the disco should estimate the customer’s usage for the period.
NERC said given the second circumstance, the discos must read such meter, at least, once in three months and the estimated bills issued should not amount to a figure in excess of the cumulative average of the customer’s consumption.
The last category of customers are existing customers without meters who have been directly connected but yet to be provided with meters.