‘Crazy bill’ to attract one-year jail, N1m fine

AgegePulse Magazine

The Electricity Power Reform Act ( Amendment) Bill 2018 passed by the House of Representatives last Tuesday prohibiting and criminalising estimated billing has proposed a one- year jail term and a fine of N 1m for defaulters

The proposed law, which will be transmitted to the Senate for concurrence, and onward transmission to the President for his assent, also compels all electricity distribution companies to give prepaid meters to applicants within 30 days .



If assented to , the law will bar a Disco from disconnecting a consumer after the 30-day period within which a meter should be installed.

The Majority Leader of the House, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila , sponsored the bill in protest against the ‘crazy’ billing of consumers by the Discos.

The lawmaker had stated that estimated billing could only be used in situations where a consumer’ s meter could not be accessed by the service provider . He said Discos had however deemed estimated billing to be normal.

He said , “ Any regulation that allows estimation of bills when the actual consumption can be ascertained is against natural justice and equity and should not stand. ”

The majority leader had also said the bill, when passed into law , would stop estimated billing.

“ The bill will ensure that prepaid meters are installed in all houses , so long as the customers apply for the meters ,” he had said .

The House passed the bill upon the adoption of the committee report on the proposed law, following a public hearing held on June 5, 2018.

Gbajabiamila had , at the public hearing stated that there was nowhere in the world where electricity customers were billed arbitrarily .

Sections 68 to 72 are some of the amendments to the Principal Act . Section 68 states, “( 1) Estimated billing methodology is hereby prohibited in Nigeria.

“( 2) Every electricity consumer in Nigeria shall apply to the Electricity Distribution Company carrying out business within his (or her) jurisdiction for a prepaid meter and such consumer shall pay the regulated fee for prepaid meter to be installed in his ( or her) premises and the Electricity Distribution Company shall within 30 days or receiving the application and payment install the prepaid meter applied for in the premises of the consumer .

“( 3) Customers who elect to buy their prepaid meters through credit advancement metering implementation must state in their applications and such customers must be metered within 30 days of the receipt of their applications .
“( 4) All electricity charges or billings to the premises of every consumer shall be based strictly on prepaid metering and no consumer shall be made to pay any bill without a prepaid meter first being installed at the premises of the consumer. ”

In the new Section 69, the proposed law stipulates that the Disco serving the consumer, upon connection , must inform the customer in writing on the nature of the meter installed, tariff methodology and all other services available to the customer.

The new Section 70 states that in giving effect to the provisions of the Act, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission , as the regulatory body , must ensure that all licensed Discos comply with the provisions of this Act.

Punch

https://punchng.com/crazy-bill-to-attract-one-year-jail-n1m-fine/

Supply Prepaid Meters To Customers, Fashola Tells DisCos

...FG promises to invest 72bn on procurement of equipment for unused 2,000MWs electricity

The Federal Government has committed to invest N72 billion on the procurement and installation of equipment to help distribute unused 2,000 megawatts  of electricity to consumers in the country.

Mr Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing said this at a news conference in Abuja on Monday.

He said the 2,000MWs was from the 7,000MWs that GENCOS could generate and the 5,000 MWs that DisCos could distribute.

Fashola, however, said the problem presently was that the DisCos could not distribute all the power that was available.

This, he explained, was leaving the sector with an unused capacity of 2,000 MWs, with an approximately 1,150 MWs projected to come in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

He said the government had advertised the process of procuring the equipment and was encouraging responses from original equipment manufacturers, which were being evaluated.

The minister, who expressed worry over the activities of some operators, said the government was acting and would not relent to salvage the challenges in the sector.

“The number of complaints coming to government for meters, which the DISCOs should supply, and for estimated billings, and mass disconnections when no everybody is owing cannot continue.

“Government must act, and will do so, the DisCos bought these assets with their eyes opened, and they must compete to deliver or exit.

“Small businesses which need very little power are not getting enough because the DisCos cannot take the power to them.

“The investment of GENCOs is threatened because they cannot utilise the capacity they have installed.’’

Fashola, therefore, urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission in line with the law to prevail on the DisCos to improve their distribution equipment and capacity to take up the available 2,000MWs.

He said NERC should enforce the contract of DisCos to supply meters and act to ensure urgent speedy supply and installation of meters to eliminate estimated billing and promote efficient industry market structures.

“DisCos should stop threatening private entrepreneurs from entering the market to supply consumers whom the DISCos cannot supply.

“NERC should license such persons subject to terms and conditions in order to promote competition and private sector participation and avoid a private monopoly of power.’’

He said Section 71(6) of Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA), dealing with terms and conditions of licenses clearly shows that no exclusivity or monopoly was intended for a license holder such as GenCos or DisCos.

“If we take into consideration that after five years of privatisation, there are still people and businesses that do not have power or enough power.

“Common sense and public interest demand that we must not resist ordinary people, small businesses like shops and markets from seeking alternative sources of energy.

“If the DISCOs are not resisting the generator sellers who are contributing to pollution, what is the logic of resisting small entrepreneurs bringing mini gas plants to supply a market need?.

“I am not unmindful of concerns about loss of market or customers by DISCos but this must be balanced against our national interest.

“My belief is that as their businesses become steady and improve, they will be in a position to use their economies of large volumes of power to buy out or outprice these small entrepreneurs.

“For now, our developmental needs cannot wait for businessmen who are not yet ready to serve.

“National interest, public good, the need to support small businesses, provide access to power for ordinary people and increase productivity inform the policy statements that I have made, and I expect NERC to act with dispatch.’’

(NAN)