Amidst mounting frustration over inadequate power supply in Nigeria, the National Electricity Consumers Advocacy Network (NECAN) has voiced strong criticism against electricity distribution companies (Discos) for profiteering at the expense of consumers. According to NECAN, millions of unmetered customers are being overbilled despite receiving little to no electricity.
“Since the beginning of this year, no consumer can comfortably say they have received up to eight hours of supply in a day,” NECAN Secretary Chijioke Obonga remarked. “Many consumers suffered the same thing last year. Now, over 60 per cent of customers are unmetered, yet the Discos continue to issue bills, regardless of whether they supplied power or not, often threatening disconnection for non-payment. The regulator has done nothing concrete to address this. The Discos are making money by distributing darkness.”
Obonga called for stringent sanctions against Discos that fail to meter their customers. He argued that widespread metering would make it difficult for power distributors to exploit customers with inflated estimated bills.
Earlier this year, The PUNCH reported that Discos had overbilled customers by N105 billion and were to face sanctions from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The commission revealed that it would deduct N10.5 billion from the annual allowed revenues of the 11 power distribution companies during the next tariff review as part of these sanctions.
NERC disclosed in a notice that the billing of unmetered customers for 2023 showed widespread non-compliance with the monthly energy caps issued by the commission. It was determined that the Discos had overbilled customers by approximately N105 billion in just nine months. For instance, Abuja Disco overbilled its customers by N17.874 billion, Eko Disco by N13.137 billion, Port Harcourt Disco by N14.187 billion, and Kaduna Disco by N1.145 billion.
The regulator ordered the Discos to refund the overcharged customers and to ensure compliance in the future. To prevent such occurrences, a 10 per cent fine was imposed on the utilities.
In separate orders, NERC established that the power firms had consistently breached the caps on estimated bills, thereby inflating charges for unmetered customers. The regulator reiterated that any unmetered customer must not pay more than the stipulated maximum amount until metering is completed.
“The public may recall that in 2020, the commission issued the order on Capping of Estimated Bills (Order No: NERC/197/2020) and subsequently issued monthly energy caps to align the estimated bills for unmetered customers with the measured consumption of metered customers on the same supply feeder,” the February notice from NERC stated. “A review of the electricity distribution companies’ billing of unmetered customers for 2023 revealed non-compliance with the monthly energy caps issued by the commission.”
In response, and to safeguard unmetered customers from arbitrary billing, NERC stated that it had issued an order on Non-Compliance with Capping of Estimated Bills (Order No: NERC/2024/004-014) pursuant to Section 34(1)(d) of the Electricity Act 2023.
NECAN’s Obonga stressed the necessity of enforcing these orders to ensure that the Discos adhere to fair billing practices, ultimately protecting consumers from ongoing exploitation.
