NERC to sanction PHEDC, others over estimated billing of customers

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued notice of intention to commence enforcement action against 7 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) over their failure to comply with the orders to cap estimated billing of customers.

NERC disclosed this in a series of tweets on Tuesday.

It said, “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’s order 197/2020 places limits on estimated bills that the DisCos can charge the unmetered consumers of residential (R2) and commercial (C1).

It also listed the electricity distribution companies involved to include 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 commission 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.