DISCOs Who Fail to Provide Meters for Customers Will Regret, Says NERC
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Monday said that it is not going to be in the interest of electricity distributing companies in Nigeria, DISCOs, who fail to provide prepaid meters for electricity consumers.
Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NERC, Professor James Momoh, said what the regulatory agency wants to do is to ensure that DISCOs who fail to provide meters will find the situation unfavourable in the long run.
He explained that this was because NERC will also have to regulate the estimated billing by ensuring it puts a maximum amount that DISCOs can charge a customer.
According to him, “We would do everything within our powers to ask and ensure that electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, provide meters through the Meter Asset Providers, MAP, to its customers. “Failure to do so, we have a back up plan , which is one of our regulations that would be out in about a month’s time, on capping, which we would put a maximum amount the DISCOs can charge a customer that it had not been able to provide meter. In fact, it would be to their advantage to provide meters. “The capping issue is win-win situation for customers to want our meters and for DISCOs to want to provide meters. The minimum we are going to allow them to charge will not be to the advantage of DISCOs in the long run.”
The regulatory agency denied hiking electricity tariffs, explaining that it was only a review of the Multi-Year Tariff Order, MYTO, which according to him does not mean an immediate increase in tariff.
“The proposed tariff review is what we are mandated to do as a regulator. We did the first one around June. January is here, we have done it. We have no option than to do our jobs. We have done the review and it is subject to public consultation.
“The order is simply a communication of what we have done as a regulator looking at what it takes to increase or decrease tariff. If at the end of our meeting, back and front, we say increase, there is increase; if we say no increase, no increase. “It is going to be based on our engagement at the public forum. No increase to tariff . We are not leaving any stone unturned. We do not want any increase without negotiations with the customers”.
The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, ANED, had said its members would begin to implement an increase in tariff from April 1, 2020.
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