The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has advised Nigerians not to pay for meter administration charge and the power bill if there is blackout for over fourteen days.
NERC said that the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) guideline had halted the power Distribution Companies from gathering vitality and administration charges following two weeks of intensity blackout.
Its executive, Prof. James Momoh, broke the news at the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) dispatch of the MAP in Abuja on Friday.
The General Manager, Finance and Management Services, Abudukadir Shetima, who spoke to the Chairman, said that with the MAP guideline, the meters must be introduced not later than ten days after installment.
As per him, should the DisCo will not supplant a failing meter following two days, the client isn’t relied upon to make any installment.
He said that NERC, DisCos and the clients have their due date to give the meters to the clients at the required time.
He said the guideline was structured in a way that views the shopper as the lord in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) esteem chain.
The client, he stated, is relied upon to have the best administrations.
He included, “Due dates were given in the guideline to the DisCos, even the commission with the goal that we don’t defer, so the clients get the administration at the time that it is required.
“For example, if a meter is going to be introduced, it must be submitted inside ten days of making installment. There will be sanctions if that due date isn’t met.
“Number two, to guarantee there will be authorized, the MAP has been approached to give a bank execution ensure that will be called upon. So they will lose cash on the off chance that the delay in delivering the meters even by one day.
“Number two, if the meters get terrible, they will be supplanted by the MAP with no installment for the whole ten years time frame.
“If the meters don’t work they should be supplanted inside two days, on the off chance that they are not replaced inside two days, the client won’t make the month to month clients administration charge installment. That installment will be seized.
“Another piece of the guideline is that if there is a drawn-out blackout, and they are out of power for a considerable length of time, notwithstanding another measure that the commission is taking to address those sort of situations, the client won’t pay for the meter administration charge and won’t pay for the power if there is blackout for over about fourteen days.”
Posting the goal of the guideline, Momoh said the significant principal purpose is the evacuation of assessed charging to expel the discussions around it.
He included: “The clients are glad to make the installment. The second issue is income confirmation; happy clients will pay.
“Nigerians are eager to pay for the administrations they can get so that there will be income confirmation and that will affect the business all in all. Presently, the incomes in the business are not adequate to empower speculations and better administrations. Along these lines, it resembles an endless loop and this metering is expected to address that issue.”
Talking, the AEDC Managing Director, Engr. Ernest Mupwaya uncovered that through and through the organization has intended to meter the clients in its establishment regions with 900,000 meters.
He said that remembering that the clients would expand, the meter merchants would likewise provide food for their metering.
He stated: “On the whole, 900,000 traditions have been booked for metering in AEDC establishment territory in the main occurrence. Being a moving target, we know that the number may increment and as it does, the merchants will take them along.”
