The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that it is committed to protecting Nigerians from outrageous estimated billing.
The Commission said this in an awareness video released via its social media platform recently.
The awareness video addressed the use of energy caps which were created to protect unmetered customers from outrageous estimated billing. NERC said it has developed a methodology to determine monthly energy caps, that is the maximum amount of energy distribution companies (DisCos) can charge unmetered non-maximum demand (non-MD), customers, each month.
According to NERC, the caps are determined based on the consumption of neighbouring customers and DisCos are penalized for flouting them. The introduction of energy caps by the NERC aims to provide a fairer billing system for customers who have not yet been metered.
By establishing maximum limits for billing, NERC seeks to prevent DisCos from overcharging customers based on estimations, which have often led to disputes and complaints. NERC also highlighted five important things all estimated billing customers should know about energy caps:
Mandate – NERC is committed to protecting electricity customers from outrageous estimated billing in line with its mandate.
Coverage – There are three types of electricity customers covered by capping, they are: unmetered customers, customers with faulty meters, and post-paid electricity customers whose meters cannot be read due to lack of access.
Features – Energy caps are based on the consumption of neighboring customers and NERC tracks and penalizes distribution companies for non-compliance with energy caps.
Financing – NERC has provided two different financing frameworks – National Mass Metering Program (NMMP) and Meter Assets Provider (MAP) Regulation.
Priority – NERC continuously works to ensure that metering is a core pillar of the electricity sector reform agenda.
Inadequate metering also causes billing efficiency challenges
On the other hand, the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is also facing billing efficiency challenges. In its Q4 2022 Electricity report, NERC said that it is concerned about the low billing efficiency reported by the DisCos and its impact on the financial sustainability of the NESI.
In the cited report, NERC stated that it is committed to working with DisCos to ensure that distribution losses are significantly reduced as part of the efforts toward steering the industry to financial sustainability. This effort will hinge on the reinforcement of DisCo infrastructure to reduce technical losses, improve consumer enumeration, and customer service, improve metering systems, and implementation of steps that will drive timely bill payments and the rollout of initiatives to curb energy theft.
Although Q4/2022 recorded better collection efficiency due to increased metering, NERC also noted in its electricity report, that the collection efficiency in the NESI is well below international standards and this comparatively low collection efficiency is a major threat to the NESI’s financial sustainability.
What you should know: Under the NERC electricity service charter that was released in April 2023, the Commission stated that unmetered customers have the right to transparent billing and should also be refunded if they have been overbilled.
I stay in Lagos state how can I get a meter
NERC should also pay attention to customers who are metered. The DISCOS are fund of changing the tarrif almost every month.
NERC, Thanks for this awareness.
I have been getting high estimated billing every month.
When I take the bill to their office and protest, all to no avail.
Ikedc gives new meters with outstanding bills in it .
If that bill is not cleared by the user it will be impossible to recharge
I have complain to make about over estimated bill . Iive in Ifo in Ogun State in a new site. As CDA by our efforts brought electricity to the place with out govt input . I can not meet up for the overestimated bill payment I complained , request for temporary suspension of their service becos they have cut up my light for more than one year but the bill did not stop coming every month for the service they never render. Please help me to stop them from sending the bill . My cable was removed.
I too have gotten no sensible response to my complaint of overbilling. Is there a complaint line or email address from NERC we can forward these complaints too? They need to investigate this please