The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has expressed its intention to commence enforcement action against 7 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) over their failure to comply with the orders to cap estimated bills to customers.
This was disclosed by NERC in a tweet post on their official twitter handle on Tuesday, June 9, 2020.
“The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued notices of intention to commence enforcement action against seven electricity distribution companies over their failure to comply with the order 197/2020 on capping of unmetered R2 and C1 electricity customers,” NERC said.
NERC’s order 197/2020 places limits on estimated bills that the DisCos can charge the unmetered consumers of residential (R2) and commercial (C1)
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued notices of intention to commence enforcement action against Seven electricity distribution companies over their failure to comply with the Order 197/2020 on capping of unmetered R2 and C1 electricity customers.
— NERC Nigeria (@NERCNG) June 9, 2020
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission listed the electricity distribution companies involved to include those in Enugu, Eko, Benin, Ikeja, Kano, Kaduna, and Port Harcourt.
These distribution companies were given a timeframe of 14 days with effect from June 4, 2020, to explain why the regulatory commission should not sanction them over their alleged failure to comply with the order.
The NERC had in February issued order No/NERC/197/2020 on capping of estimated billings in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, thereby placing a cap on estimated bills to unmetered customers.
This was to protect unmetered R2 (Residential single and 3 phase meters, who consume more than 50kwh per month) and C1 (Commercial single and 3 phase meters, small businesses) customers from estimated and arbitrary billing and hopefully hasten the process of metering.