NERC official to DisCos: Supply 20hrs electricity to Band A customers or downgrade them

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has asked electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to ensure Band A customers receive the required 20 hours of daily power supply.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, Dafe Akpeneye, NERC’s commissioner for licensing and legal, said DisCos must immediately downgrade customers they cannot consistently supply adequate power to.

“With regards to the migration order, it is not elective to the instance of the customer. The disco needs to make an application and ensure that they can supply power to customers in Band A,” Akpeneye said.

“If Discos can’t supply such customers, the discos have to downgrade such customers to meet what they can provide.

“The distribution can distribute what is only available on the grid. So when there is no supply to the grid, the discos can’t meet those supply commitments.

“But the grid has been resolved and we hope supply can improve, and when they can’t, the discos have to downgrade such customers.”

Speaking on the role of subnational governments in power generation, transmission, and distribution, he said states have autonomy under the Nigerian constitution to establish and regulate electricity markets.

He said the states are building capacity to execute the responsibilities effectively.

“States can now establish electricity markets, and regulate them by the Nigerian constitution,” he said.

“States now have powers for electricity generation, transmission and distribution within the states without restrictions.

“We should bear in mind that Nigeria is a country of laws. The Nigerian law states that the states have the power to establish and regulate electricity markets.

“The states also now have exclusive powers over distribution as seen in the concurrent list.

“With the states having such powers, it is of the states to exercise. Every Nigerian comes from a state.

“The states have the capacity, and as we speak, the team from Oyo State has issued us a notice, and they are currently spending a week in the commission, understudying what we do.

“Before coming to the commission, they have been to Ghana. They have also had an intensive 11-week training session with an international regulatory body.

“So the states are going to build capacity, learn and grow.”

‘CUSTOMERS MUST DIRECT COMPLAINTS TO DISCOS BEFORE APPROACHING NERC’

Akpeneye said customers’ complaints must first be addressed to the relevant distribution company before being escalated to NERC if the issues are unresolved.

He said the commission’s consolidated customer protection regulation was established last year to safeguard consumers.

“The complaint process has gone on well. We have seen situations where complaints don’t get resolved by the discos and get escalated to NERC and they get resolved. We always ensure that customers get a fair resolution,” he said.

“Where a customer has been overbilled, they get fair redress. But when customers bypass meters, we also make sure the case gets addressed appropriately.”

On November 18, the NERC said it is the responsibility of electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to replace customers’ meters free of charge if the devices are obsolete or faulty.