NERC AND ESTIMATED BILLING SYSTEM

 The process of billing should be measured and transparent

Last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the number of Nigerians on estimated billing rose to 7.07 million in the first quarter of 2024. That most of these customers are billed for what they do not consume explains why there is so much agitation against this practice.

For several years across the nation, there has been a chorus of protests over exploitative billing by electricity distribution companies (DISCOs). Many homes that are barely supplied with power once a week are charged outrageous sums of money per month, in a billing that is not cost effective. In some cases, the difference in charges can be as high as 500 per cent within a short time, even when there is little or no improvement in power supply. Most of those affected by this exploitation are those without pre-paid meters as their billing comes in the form of estimation.

So pervasive is the situation that the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) was once directed by Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to refund some money to some consumers who were excessively billed. Ironically, the same regulatory commission once opposed a bill in the House of Representatives which would have prohibited and criminalised estimated billing, arguing that a regulation on the practice already exists, and that another law could lead to chaos in the industry. But NERC’s estimated billing methodology guidelines to the DisCos are often observed in the breach while the commission has not been able to deal with the problem. This perhaps explains why the number of Nigerians waiting to be metered continues to rise.

Last November, the NERC warned the DisCos against estimated billing regime. NERC stated that it had been notified that the DisCos were instructing customers to apply and make payments for the replacement of spoilt and obsolete meters in their franchise areas. “This instruction contravenes the Commission’s order on the Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete end-use Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry,” according to NERC statement. Evidently, the DisCos do not take the NERC serious on the issue.

When in November 2013 the electricity distribution and power generation companies were handed over to some private operators at an elaborate ceremony, the hope was that daily blackouts and power outages would be reduced to the barest minimum, until they were gradually eased out. But it is now apparent that those hopes were largely misplaced. Today, consumers are paying more and getting less electric power. And now, they are demanding that the process of billing should be measured, transparent and efficient. They are also being ignored.

We understand that the demand for pre-paid metres far exceeds the supply but we are also aware that local manufacturers seem ready for the growing demand as many consumers are ready to buy. The DisCos seem to be in no hurry to provide them while playing down the Meter Asset Provider regulation which expects them to address the metering gap on grounds of financial inability. But many have countered that the Discos are deliberate in their fitful supply of meters, even to those who want to buy – which indeed could encourage conservation of energy – because the ‘crazy’ estimation system pays them far more.

We hope that the NERC will enforce their own regulations on estimated billing to protect power consumers from continued exploitation by the DisCos.