New Tariff: Refund overbilled customers before April 11, NERC orders DisCos

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has mandated that electricity distribution companies (DisCos) compensate customers who received incorrect bills under the new tariff.

NERC Deputy General Manager, Market Competition and Rates, Mr. Abba Terab, issued the directive in a statement on Saturday.

He mandated that DisCos submit proof of compliance to the commission by April 12 and that customers receive refunds through energy tokens no later than April 11.

The statement reads: “All DisCos shall ensure that only the newly approved Band A feeders listed in their April 2024 supplementary orders are maintained as Band A for the purpose of vending to prepaid customers and billing for postpaid customers on their networks.

“All DisCos are required to immediately post on their websites the schedule of approved Band ‘A’ feeders that have been affected by the rate review.

“All DisCos shall set up a portal by April 10, 2024, on their website that allows all customers to check their current bands by entering their meter or account numbers.

“All customers wrongly billed at the new rate should be refunded through energy tokens no later than Thursday 11th April 2024, and file evidence of compliance with the Commission by 12th April 2024.

“The Commission shall monitor compliance with the requirements listed above and shall continue to provide support to all stakeholders as required.”

Persecondnews recalls that NERC was given the go-ahead on April 3 to raise the electricity rates for customers in the Band ‘A’ category.

Band ‘A’ consumers are those who consume at least 20 hours of power per day under the Service Based Tariff (SBT).

This change will cause customers to pay N225 per kilowatt per hour, up from the current rate of N66.

“We currently have 800 feeders that are categorized as Band ‘A’, but they will now be reduced to under 500. This means that 17 percent now qualify as Band ‘A’ feeders. These feeders only service 15 percent of the total electricity customers connected to the feeders.

“The commission has issued an order which is titled ‘April supplementary order’ and the commission allows 235 kilowatts per hour,” the Vice Chairman of NERC, Mr. Musliu Oseni, revealed at a press briefing.

He added that the commission had also downgraded some customers on Band ‘A’ to Band ‘B’ due to non-fulfilment of the required hours of electricity provided by the electricity distribution company.

Following an NERC increase of over 230 percent for customers in Band ‘A’, the regulatory commission sanctioned the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) on April 5 for violating its order on customer classifications.

The sanction followed a fine of N200,000,000 imposed on AEDC, for failure to comply with the prescribed customer band classifications for the tariff billing.

This followed complaints from many customers of the Disco concerning many infractions, including those previously in Band ‘B’ being moved to the higher Band ‘A’ without any form of explanation.

The AEDC, however, acknowledged the discrepancies and distortions in billing, blaming them on system glitches.