NERC Vows to Protect Electricity Consumers from Exploitation

Fri, Mar 18, 2016
By publisher
4 MIN READ

BREAKING NEWS, Power

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The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission is out to protect consumers from being exploited by power firms with the implementation of the of a new tariff regime in Nigeria

By Anayo Ezugwu  |  Mar 28, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT  |

WITH the full implementation of the new electricity tariff by the distribution companies, Discos, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, is out to make sure distribution companies stick to agreements and refrain from exploiting consumers. The new tariff regime will help in bridging the more than N180 billion market gap recorded in 2015. Anthony Akah, acting chairman, NERC, who gave the information in a Radio interview, threatened to hold all the Discos accountable if they failed to meter all the consumers within one year, as stipulated in the service agreement signed by both parties.

“If we don’t provide the right pricing, it means fundamentally that the financial institutions will not provide the much-needed loan facility to our providers to go into the operations to the extent that we are not able to cover the market gap… So it’s fundamentally important right now that since we’ve balanced that aspect of it, we as the regulator, are holding the operators, especially the Distribution Companies accountable for every bit of their service agreement,” he said.

Akah noted that NERC embarked on a massive consumer education so that Nigerians would be well informed and well equipped to insist on their rights. “Compelling Nigerians or communities to buy electric poles, buy transformers, repair transformers are totally not acceptable and we are holding the Distribution Companies accountable.”

The NERC boss allayed the fears of Nigerians amidst the lingering crisis trailing the new electricity tariff and assured that the commission gave clear directives that with all the support of the Central Bank of Nigeria facility loan, the Discos must be able to meter Nigerians within the timeline. “One of the new mechanisms that are very effective in this tariff regime is that the DISCOs must meter all consumers and failure to meter them within the timeframe means that Nigerians will not be disconnected and you (Discos) cannot estimate them.”

According to Akah, the new policy also empowers any aggrieved unmetered consumer to reject outrageous bills. “You have the right to say ‘No’ I’m going to pay the last bill that you accepted to pay, pending the resolution of the disputed bill. So there are inbuilt mechanisms that are very robust, very strong to ensure that the sector plays by the rules.”

The NERC had on Monday, February 1, started the new electricity tariff (MYTO 2015). The new tariff regimes comes with an increase in energy charges, all electricity consumers (residential as well as commercial) are no longer paying fixed charges, so their total bills would depend on the electricity they actually consume and may be reduced when they conserve electricity.

For instance, residential customer classification (R2) in Abuja Electricity Distribution Company won’t pay N702.00 fixed charge every month. Their energy charge has increased by N9.60. Also, residential customers (R2 customers) in Eko and Ikeja electricity distribution areas will no longer pay N750. 00 fixed charges. They will be getting N10 and N8 increase, respectively in their energy charges.

Similarly, the burden of N800 and N750 fixed charges would be lifted off the shoulders of Kaduna and Benin electricity consumers. These consumers will see an increase of N11.05 and N9.26, respectively in their energy charges. The new tariff is also good news for commercial consumers. For example, commercial customers’ classification C2 in Ibadan and Enugu will no longer pay fixed charges of N17, 010 and N22, 141. Their energy charge will increase by N12.08 and N13.35, respectively.

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