By Abah Adah
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission ,NERC, has slammed a daily penalty on the Electricity Distribution Companies ,DisCos, over unmigrated meters effective from January 1st 2025.
NERC had earlier declared as illegal the move by the Electricity Distribution Companies ,DisCos,to compel electricity consumers to pay for the replacement of obsolete meters.
NERC stated that the move contravenes its Order No. NERC/246/2021 on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete End-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
To this end, the commission warned that no customer with a meter should be forcefully migrated to estimated billing on the account of obsolete meters.
However, during the Q4 NESI Stakeholders Meeting, the Commission directed DisCos to rapidly conclude the migration of STS-Meters for all their customers to prevent disruption of service.
It warned that daily penalties would be imposed for each meter not migrated effective from 1st January 2025.
The Commission further emphasized the responsibility of the DisCos to replace all obsolete/faulty meters within their franchise.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Customer Protection Regulation 2023, the Commission noted that DisCos are neither allowed to charge customers for the replacement of obsolete/faulty meters nor transfer customers to estimated billing.
