Know Your Rights as an Electricity Customer in Nigeria

• KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AS AN ELECTRICITY CUSTOMER IN NIGERIA

Do you know your rights as an electricity customer in Nigeria? In this video, we have set out ten rights of an electricity customer in Nigeria you need to be aware of. This is of particular importance since the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) released an Order on the capping of estimated bills in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) in February 2020.

The Order is aims to eliminate the arbitrary issuing of estimated bills to unmetered electricity customers by power distribution companies (DisCos) and to spur DisCos to to improve the metering of customers within their franchise areas. In June 2020, the NERC issued notices of intention to commence enforcement action against seven electricity distribution companies (DisCos) over failure to comply with the Order. The notices are an indication that many electricity customers remain unmetered and that DisCos continue to issue arbitrary estimated electricity bills to electricity customers. While the NERC intends to sanction defaulting DisCos, it is important for electricity customers to understand their rights as electricity customers and how to seek redress where they have been issued arbitrary estimated electricity bills.

The rights of electricity customers are set out in the NERC’s Customer Service Standards of Performance for Distribution Companies, Customer Complaints Handling Services and Procedures, Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services, and Meter Reading, Cash Collections & Credit Management for Electricity Supply.

Electricity customer rights include:

• Right to electricity supply in a safe and reliable manner.
• Right to a properly installed and functional meter.
• Right to be properly informed and educated on the electricity service.
• Right to transparent electricity billing.
• Right to be issued with electricity bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated billing methodology where the customer is unmetered.
• Right to be notified in writing ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the DisCo serving the customer in line with NERC’s guidelines.

For further reading on understanding your rights as an electricity customer, click here.