The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission has disclosed that customers have the right to transfer the credit on their old meters to their new ones.
This was disclosed on its Twitter handle on Wednesday by the General Manager, Finance and Management Services, NERC, Dr Abdulkadir Shettima, during the NERC’s workshop for civil society organisations and consumer advocacy groups in Kano.
He said, “The customer also has the right to whatever credit that is on the old meter to be transferred to the new meter.”
He was making a presentation on “Metering Issues, Steps Taken So Far to Address the Challenges”.
Shettima explained further that customer has the right to repair or replace faulty meters within two days upon complaint unless the fault is from him in which case, he would be required to make upfront payment.
He also stressed that the customer has some obligations to perform among which is to authorize access to the meter & connection to the DisCos because a default could lead to disconnection.
He said, the customer also has the obligation to ensure safety of the meter and to prevent unauthorized access to the meter.
Also speaking, NERC DGM Consumer Affairs, Dr. Shittu Shaibu, said every bill issued to a customer must bear the payment and delivered to the customer 10 days ahead.
He said, “For every bill that is given to a customer, the payment must be written on the bill. This is the most interesting part and it has to be delivered by the agreed means, ten days before the due date.”
He added that “In the CPR 2023, the DisCo is mandated to give additional two working days as grace period before disconnection.”
The Commissioner, Aisha Mammud, while speaking, observed that some DisCos installed meters on the pole.
While wondering about the safety of their meter, she said “in such a situation how on earth will someone guarantee the safety of the meter?”
The basic intention of the workshop was to get civil societies informed of what NERC is doing to improve the sector and different laws and measures that have been put in place, and the workshop met its objectives.
According to BSWEEP, Coordinator, Ruqayya Ibrahim Kewa, from the presentations they are doing a lot about evaluation of their licensees and they are doing a lot about enlightenment of industry participants.
She urged NERC to also increase its efforts on synergy with stakeholders.
She called for the sensitization of officials of state high courts on improved prosecution of energy theft and vandalism cases.”
