Estimated billing will be over soon – NERC

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) says its Meter Asset Providers (MAP) scheme will enable Nigerians to pay only for power consumed and end the issue of estimated billing soon.

Prof. James Momoh, the Chairman of NERC, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday that that the commission was determined to ensure that electricity customers paid for only what they consumed and not estimated bills.

The chairman said that many people had complained that they had no meters, but said that MAP would address such complaints in due time.

He said that the Distribution Companies (DISCOs) were not able to provide meters due to lack of funds though it was their responsibility to do so.

“Now we have investors, who have agreed to provide the meters at their own expense and make a little profit, so it does not have to be the problem of the DISCOs anymore.

“As I talk, so many of the DISCOs have started providing meters and this has taken care of the bottleneck experienced by lack of no meters.

“It does not mean that every Nigerian will get the meter tomorrow morning, but the number of people calling that they have meter has increased,” he said.

Momoh said that NERC had done a lot to ensure that electricity supply in the country was stable.

He said that there were a lot of blame game going on in the power sector in the country which had become a national issue.

“NERC formed a committee and invited the DISCOs and Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to discuss and we were able to identify the challenges.

“We made them agree on things to be done to address the challenges and if they fail to do what they promised, it is then the regulatory order will be given to sanction or make them do what they promised,” he said.

-NAN