Senate passes motion abolishing N702 fixed electricity charges, estimated billing

The Senate has asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to immediately enforce the abolishment of N702 fixed charges being collected from electricity consumers across the nation.

The Senate also directed Discos to discontinue the practice of compulsory bulk metering of villages and communities in the rural areas, while consumers should have the right to be part of bulk metering scheme or not.

The senators also unanimously directed Discos to discontinue the practice of making consumers pay for meters, poles and transformers, which by law, were their properties.

They, however, clarified that where the consumers had purchased those items, they should give notice of the purchase to the Discos, and should be entitled to recover their expenses from subsequent consumption of electricity.

These were resolutions from a motion on Tuesday, titled: “Unfair Trade Practices of Electricity Distribution Companies in Nigeria,” sponsored by Sam Egwu and David Umaru.

In his lead debate, Egwu noted that NERC was established to among others, license and regulate persons engaged in the generation, transmission, system operation distribution and trading of electricity.

According to him, the same NERC was also empowered by Section 32(1) (d) of its enabling legal regime to ensure that the prices charged by licenses are fair to customers and are sufficient to allow the licenses to finance their activities and allow for reasonable earnings for efficient operation.

The lawmaker however noted that the Commission, in the exercise of its power under Section 32(2)(d) of the Power Sector Reform Act, licensed a number of companies including Discos, which since take off of their operations in Nigeria, and had been ripping off consumers through fixed charges and bulk metering across the country.

The lawmaker lamented that the electricity firms still engage in arbitrary estimated billing system of some areas in the country, which was not commensurate with the power consumed by the customers.

He said: “The high tariff being charged by Discos does not make provision for payment of only electricity that is consumed even though bills are dished out without commensurate services being offered by the distribution companies.”