DISCos See Chaos Ahead As NERC Caps Estimated Bills

Electricity distribution companies in Nigeria have kicked against a new directive given by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on the capping of estimated bills.

The Commission, in a move to put an end to unrealistic estimated bills on Tuesday, put a limit on the amounts that unmetered customers in different categories could be billed by estimation in a month.

Reacting to this order, an influential top official of one of the biggest Discos, said the  cap on estimated billing was  not in the interest of operators as it would  lead to high loss of  funds,  adding, “it will kill the industry'”

“It’s like using a big stick to hit someone’s head and the person refuses to die and then you think of using a nail to hit the person’s head, that is what they are doing.

“It is a political step to make people happy. You are saying estimated billing is evil, yes, and then you cap it and then people are using the light not bothering how much they consume. I can assure you that with this new order there will be chaos.”

He also said the limit on the amount of billing would encourage some customers, who are currently using prepaid meters, to tamper with their meters.

He said, ‘”Kubwa, Nyanya and Wuse 2, have different classes of customers and the volumes of consumption vary. So, residents in Wuse would likely pay higher than those in Kubwa.

“So, when you cap estimated billing and make it uniform, some of the customers in Wuse would tamper with their meters in order to get the benefit the unmetered customers are getting.”