NERC Says Buhari Orders Mass-Metering, Halts Tariff Increase

The President, Muhammadu Buhari has ordered operators in the power sector to carry out mass metering of the unmetered customers in the country.

This was disclosed in a statement released by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) via its official twitter handle, signed by its Chairman, John Momoh, on Wednesday.

In the statement, NERC disclosed that the president had ordered mass-metering nationwide but the commission had not approved any increase in the electricity tariff for Nigerians.

The commission said, “The President has directed that there should be a nationwide mass-metering programme in an effort by the Federal Government to put a stop to estimated and arbitrary billing for electricity.

“He has also approved a waiver of the import levy on meters so that those that do not have meters can be supplied as early as possible at reasonable costs.”

“The general public and all stakeholders in the power sector are by this statement urged to disregard any reports of an arbitrary tariff increase affecting Nigerians.”

The commission stated that there would be a review on the tariffs which would be based on the service-based principle.

The NERC said under these service-based principles, power distribution companies would only be able to review customers tariff rates when it consult customers to increasing the number of hours of power supply per day and quality of service.

It said, “In line with these expectations, Discos are directed to engage with their customers on a Service Based Tariff structure.”

The commission added that customers would also be metered, adding that no estimated billing would be allowed based on the strict capping regulation.

“This means that unmetered customers will not experience any cost increase beyond what is chargeable to metered customers in the same area,”

“Even under the above conditions, there will be no change in tariff for the most vulnerable as tariffs for those consuming 50KW or less remain frozen.”

It also added that customers receiving less than 12 hours of supply would also not experience any change in tariffs.