By Idorenyin UMOREN, Uyo
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has extended the deadline for meter upgrades from distribution companies, DisCos, to their customers on January 1, 2025, after which they risk sanction, according to online reports.
Recall that the regulatory agency had given November 24 as the deadline for this process but the DisCos failed to meet a certain percentage of the target population for the scheme.
The metering programme is set to be upgraded from Unistar to Standard Transfer Specifications, STS, meters by the DisCos for all their customers.
The SituationReport also learned from The Vanguard newspaper that there are no official figures of the percentage of Nigerians that had complied with the directive, out of the 6.1 million metered customers from the 13.3 million registered electricity customers in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI.
NERC, on its X handle, gave the ultimatum during the fourth guarter of 2024 NESI stakeholders meeting.
The regulatory body vowed to impose penalties on any defaulting DisCos
It said in a statement: “NERC has directed DISCOs to rapidly conclude the migration of STS-Meters for all their customers to prevent disruption of service.
“During the Q4 NESI stakeholders meeting, the commission warned that daily penalties would be imposed for each meter not migrated effective from 1st January 2025.”
The commission placed the responsibility of the DisCos to replace all obsolete/faulty meters within their franchise, insisting that DisCos are neither allowed to charge customers for the replacement of these meters nor transfer customers to estimated billing.
Recall also that the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, Mr Tunji Bello, had a few weeks ago, warned the distribution companies to cease all activities related to the planned replacement of Unistar meters.
”The directive remains in full force, and any attempt by these DisCos to proceed in contravention of it will attract severe consequences.
“Contrary to recent rumours, the approval of new meter prices by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has no connection with the proposed replacement of Unistar meters by Ikeja Electric and EKEDC.
”The planned replacement has been invalidated by both the FCCPC and NERC, and there is no indication that the affected DisCos have breached our directives.”
“It is essential to clarify that Ikeja and EKEDC cannot proceed with the withdrawal or replacement of the Unistar meters unless they fully comply with NERC’s order on Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete End-user Customer Meters in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (Order No. NERC/246/2021).
“The order mandates that meter replacements must be prompt, without disrupting service and at no cost to the consumer, ensuring that consumers are not subjected to estimated billing due to delayed installations.
“The FCCPC’s position remains clear: non-compliance with these directives by Ikeja and EKEDC will not be tolerated. Any breach of this directive will attract stiff penalties, in line with the provisions of existing consumer protection laws.”
|SituationReport|
