President Buhari orders mass metering, approves waiver on meter import

President Mohammadu Buhari has ordered a nation-wide metering program as the Federal Government propulse to end estimated and arbitrary billings for electricity.

This is contained in a press statement signed by the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity  Regulatory Commission, James  A. Momoh, Thursday, and made available on the Commission's Official Twitter handle.

President Buhari has also approved a waiver of the import levy on meters so as to fast-track the immediate supply of meters at reasonable costs to households in Nigeria.

NERC in the statement pointed out that in a bid to protecting electricity Consumers, the general public and all stakeholders in the power sector have been urged to disregard any reports of an arbitrary tariff increase affecting Nigerans.

"In response to media reports that there is an increase in tariffs for Nigerians, NERC wishes to clarify that tarrif reviews going forward will only follow service-based principles. Under this service-based principles, DISCOs will only be able to review  tarrif rates for Customers when they consult with Customers, commit to increasing the number of hours of supply per day and quality of service"

"In all cases, poor and vulnerable Nigerians will not experience any increase. In line with these expectations, DISCOs are directed to engage with their customers on a Service Based Tarriff Structure. Under the Tarriff Based Structure, DISCOs can only review tarriffs for Customers under the following Conditions:

• Customers are consulted and communicated a guaranteed level of electricity service by the DISCOs based on hours of supply.

• Customers are metered.

• No estimated billing through the strict enforcement of the capping regulation. This means that unmetered Customers will not experience any cost increase beyond what is chargeable to metered Customers in the same area."

NERC further noted that "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. Customers receiving less than 12 hours of supply will also not experience any change in tariffs."