Power sector stakeholders kick against bill to criminalise estimated billing

Stakeholders in the power sector have kicked against the bill to criminalise estimated billing.

Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) opposed the bill proposed by the house of representatives.

According to the stakeholders, the bill will worsen the electricity situation in the country.

At a public hearing on Tuesday in Abuja, the house committee on power deliberated on the bill sponsored by Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader of the house.

The bill aims to amend the power sector reform act to prohibit and criminalise estimated billing by DisCos and provide for compulsory installation of pre-paid meters for all power consumers in Nigeria.

Despite the opposition faced by the bill, the lawmakers said the only compromise was to incorporate some of the views expressed by stakeholders in the legislation.

Gbajabiamila said it was not justifiable to continuously charge consumers for power not consumed.

Fashola, however, said the bill could crumble the electricity sector, noting that the financial challenges of metering must first be addressed.

The minister said: “I take it that we all know what is core mandate. Their(DisCos) core mandate is to supply energy. My view is that let new players be licensed to have the supply of meters as their core mandate to take the load off the DisCos.

“Energy theft and meter bypass must be addressed too by prescribing heavy penalties against offenders.”

ANED, the umbrella body of DisCos, said the law would throw the country into darkness. ANED said the DisCos will respond by disconnecting supply to customers who had no meters.

It said: “The estimated billing system should be simplified for the understanding of the consumers and the operators to provide for transparency in application.

“Legislative effort should be applied to criminalising energy theft and meter bypass and creating electricity special/mobile courts. This will assist in catalysing the desired large scale metering within the sector .”

ANED said more than 150 countries in the world currently use estimated billing.

Dafe Akpeneye, NERC commissioner for legal, licencing and compliance, also opposed the bill and warned that 50 percent of power consumers would lose their connection if the law was applied without first addressing the challenges of metering.

“The law needs to be amended, but this is not the amendment we need. Criminalising lack of metering is not the way out now,” Akpeneye said.