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NERC Chairman Dr. Sam Amadi, who said this in Abuja, explained that in exchange for the payment, “the DISCOs will in turn reduce the customers’ electricity bills monthly to the tune of the amount originally advanced by the customer.”
He said the Commission may accredit meter vendors to supply and install the meters directly to customers, adding that NERC will work out the modalities for the payment.
This decision followed the companies’ slow implementation of the 18-month timeline for metering deployment plan set by NERC at the commencement of the Multi Year Tariff Order (MYTO2) in June, last year.
The tariff made allowance for sufficient funds to provide meters so that customers were no longer required to pay for the facility.
But Amadi explained that the 18-month metering plan was based on the assumption that with financial viability, the process would improve after MYTO 2.
“Unfortunately, the negotiation between labour and the Federal Government has resulted in increased personnel cost by 50 per cent. The impact is that the operational cost of the DISCOs increased significantly.
So the DISCOs have not been able to utilise increment in collection arising from tariff review to focus on metering.”
He said the Commission would hold a public hearing for SMEs and other stakeholders to arrive at a more affordable fixed charge to ensure sustenance of the sector.
“The Board of the Commissioners also reviewed the requests made by some electricity distribution companies to unbundle customers classes (R2 and R3), a development that will see to customers in the R2 category, who are mostly low-income working class customers paying less for electricity without undermining the capacity of the operators to recover their costs.
He said NERC has requested for an imposition of Kilo Volt Amp (KVA) charges to users of heavy industrial machinery that are known to cause stress to the system, adding that the charge would serve as a deterrent to such customers and compel them to install capacitor baks that will be used to reduce the impact.
The Commission also revealed that it received a request from Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (Bulk Trader) to grant a special permit to the 450 megawatt Azura- Edo power plant located in Ihovbor Benin, Edo State.
Amadi explained that the permit is in respect of a site specific wholesale gas price that is higher than the official price to enable it complete it’s financial transactions and commence construction of the plant.
While accepting that the power plant is important in terms of wholesale, he stressed that the commission has resolved that a decision will be taken after a public hearing with the stakeholders such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation , DISCOs, electricity consumers and others.
On metering plans, he said: “I also like to inform you that we have received concerns about slow deployment of meters. As you know, NERC had indicated metering the nation in 18 months based on the assumption on how the financial viability would improve after MYTO II.
Source: The Nation
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