THE 11 electricity distributing companies, Discos, operating in the country have assured their non-maximum demand customers that they were working towards meeting their metering obligations in an attempt to phase out the challenges of estimated billing faced by customers. This is coming against the backdrop of fears of a possible extension of sanctions on Discos for failing to meter non-maximum demand customers after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, recently directed all maximum demand customers to stop any payment based on estimated billing by the Discos.

The Discos had failed to meet the deadline of March 30, within which they were ordered by NERC to provide prepaid meters to the maximum demand customers or face sanctions.

In a statement, Azu Obiaya, chief executive officer, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANED, said the metering targets which were captured by performance agreements with the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, were being followed through. He advised residential customers who are yet to be metered to continue to pay the estimated bills, promising that metering will be achieved sooner.

“While we continue to operate with the estimated billing methodology that is approved and mandated by NERC, we are working diligently towards addressing the metering obligations specified under our Performance Agreements with the BPE. We are ensuring that we continue to be sensitive and responsive to the inadvertent challenges of estimated billing that our residential or non-MD customers are faced with.

“It is critically important that we state that there is no more interested party in the comprehensive metering of our electricity consumers than the DisCos. It is our hope and expectation that such metering will be achieved sooner rather than later,” ANED said.

—  Jul 10, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT