Nationwide Jubilation As Acting President Osinbajo Humbles Fashola, Orders All Nigerians To Stop Paying Electricity Bills Until Further Notice
Nationwide Jubilation As
Acting President Osinbajo Humbles Fashola, Orders All Nigerians To Stop Paying
Electricity Bills Until Further Notice
Acting
President, Yemi Osinbajo, through the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
Commission, NERC, has reminded electricity consumers not provided with prepaid
meters, to stop paying electric bills presented by Distribution Companies,
DISCOs, on the basis of estimated billing methodology.
The Commission also ordered the DISCOs not to
disconnect any of such customers that refuse to pay the bills, and further
advised such customers to report to the Commission, if disconnected.
NERC gave the directive on Wednesday, in a
statement on its website, and said it was part of its sanctioning of defaulting
DISCOs, who failed to provide meters for its customers, before the March 1
deadline.
In line with its mandate of protecting the
rights of customers, NERC had in June 2016, after consultation with the
operators, directed DISCOs to conclude metering of all customers before
November 30, 2016.
According to NERC, the Commission at the expiration of that notice, granted
three months moratorium, which expired on March 1, to enable the DISCOs
effectively execute the metering deployment plan for MD customers.
According to the statement, the sanction was
sequel to the expiration of the initial directives by NERC, and the moratorium
period given to DISCOs to meter consumers.
The statement reads in part:
A directive was issued to distribution companies by the Commission
in June 2016 for all MD customers to be metered by 30 November 2016.
The Commission received appeals on compliance deadline from
distribution companies prior to the expiration of the 30 November 2016
deadline. The deadline was extended to 1 March 2017 after consideration
of appeals received from distribution companies.
Upon
due consideration of facts above and the expiration of the compliance deadline
granted to distribution companies on the metering of MD customers; the
Commission hereby directs as follows –
1.
Any MD customer that was not metered by 1 March 2017 shall not pay any
electricity bill presented by a distribution company on the basis of estimated
billing methodology and these customers are advised to report this to the
Commission.
2.
No distribution company shall disconnect any MD customer that was not metered
by 1 March 2017 on the basis of the customer’s refusal to pay a bill issued
after the compliance deadline on the basis of estimated billing methodology.
3. Any MD customer that was not metered by 1
March 2017 should notify the Commission directly.
