By Abiola Olawale
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued a directive to 11 electricity distribution companies, mandating them to reimburse customers who have been incorrectly billed at the new rate, on or before April 11, 2024.
This was contained in a document signed by Abba Terab, the DGM, Market Competition, and Rates for the commission and made available on Saturday in Lagos.
The NERC also specified that the reimbursement should be executed in the form of energy tokens no later than April 11, with supporting evidence of compliance to be submitted to the Commission by April 12.
It also directed all Electricity Distribution Companies to provide as much clarity as possible to all affected customers.
The statement reads: “1. All DisCos shall ensure that only the newly approved Band A feeders listed in their April 2024 supplementary orders are maintained as Band A for the purpose of vending to prepaid customers and billing for postpaid customers on their networks.
“2. All DisCos are required to immediately post on their websites the schedule of approved Band A feeders that have been affected by the rate review.
“3. All DisCos shall set up a portal by 10th April 2024 on their website that allows all customers to check their current Bands by entering their meter or account numbers.
“4. All customers wrongly billed at the new rate should be refunded through energy tokens no later than Thursday 11th April 2024, and file evidence of compliance with the Commission by 12th April 2024.
“5. The Commission shall monitor compliance with the requirements listed above and shall continue to provide support to all stakeholders as required.” the document said.
The New Diplomat reports that following the decision of the NERC to increase the electricity tariff from N68 per kilowatt to N225 per kilowatt, some customers raised an alarm that AEDC had applied the new tariff to all customer bands, contrary to the order, which was designed to ensure fair billing practices.
Many customers of the Disco had since the increase of premium power consumers’ tariffs from N68 to N225, complained of many infractions, including that those previously in Band ‘B’ were moved to the higher Band ‘A’ without any form of explanation.
Also, some complained that even in the same compound, different flats had different classifications, an anomaly, while others said that they were being made to vend for N225 (Band ‘A’) when they rarely have power for half of the approved hours of supply.
But the AEDC on Thursday acknowledged the discrepancies and distortions in billing, blaming ‘system glitches’.
