Nigerians have expressed displeasure over the recent action of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in its new Order 41 that empowers distribution companies to stipulate sanction worth N150,000 for meter by-pass.
Though the Managing Partner, Xcele8 Nesbet Consult, Dr. Toyin Oluwole, does not support meter by-pass and other illegal acts, he argued that the regulator should pay more attention to saving Nigerians from the ‘vampire claws’ of the Discos, rather than giving them opportunities to further fleece Nigerians.
Oluwole said, “The jinx on pre-paid meters should be broken and discos should be compelled to buy meters from indigenous firms in order to meet demands before addressing meter by-pass. It is illegal for communities to buy equipment for the discos to aid power supply, but hundreds of thousands of consumers have been exploited on that ground and the regulator ignored them.
“The people must have value for their money before meter by-pass can be tackled or else they would device other means to ensure they are not fleeced by the discos.”
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Mr. Ben Bruce, accused the discos of being “technically bankrupt” to the extent that they could not afford to pay for millions of meters needed for accurate billing system.
“We have a catastrophe in our hands and there will be no electricity in the current arrangement,” he said, while asking that Nigeria revisits the entire privatisation process.
He also asked the Senate to urge NERC to call Discos to order to stop the practice of estimated billing, adding that the commission should be alive to its regulatory role of protecting electricity customers.
NERC Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sanusi Garba, had disclosed while signing its Order 41 that there would be appropriate sanctions for consumers that erred as they would be fined according to their offences.
Garba had said, “The Order stipulates sanctions ranging from N50,000 to N150, 000 for categories of residential customers and N50, 000 to N100, 000 for categories of commercial customers.
“Order 41 is further to 2007 Regulation on Connection & Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services. The Regulation stipulates procedures for connection and disconnection to electricity network. Discos are to file monthly reports on cases of unauthorized access to their networks with the commission. They are also liable to sanction over delay in reconnecting a customer who has paid re- connection fine.”
