•Members recount experiences as bill scales second reading
The Process to proscribe
the issuance of estimated bills to consumers by Electricity Distribution Companies
(DisCos) has begun in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. It is inform
of a bill seeking to amend the Electricity Power Reform Act.
The
Nation report continues:
Sponsored
by the House of Representatives Majority Leader Femi Gbajabiamila and others,
the Bill scaled second reading on the floor of the Green Chamber yesterday.
If
passed, every electricity consumer must be provided with a prepaid meter, thus
ending the regime of paying for power not consumed.
The
lawmakers also proposed to criminalize non-provision of prepaid meter after
application and illegal disconnection of consumer’s light among others with a
fine of ₦500,000, or six-month jail term.
Failure
to carry out the provision of the proposed law was to attract a six-month jail
term, a fine of ₦1 million, or both.
The
development followed the second reading of a bill where Section 67, sub-Section
1 of the Principal Act among others was amended.
Leading
the debate on the general principles of the bill, Gbajabiamila said that
feedback from Nigerians showed deliberate extortion of consumers by the DisCos.
On
the need to back the prohibition of estimated billing by law, the House Leader
pointed out the difference between regulation and law.
He
said: “The Electricity Regulatory body can direct that all consumers be
provided with prepaid meters immediately and by the stroke of a pen, can also
direct that the prepaid meter no longer be provided for one reason or
another. So, if this is backed by law, such can no longer happen.”
Other
lawmakers took turn to relive their experiences in the hands of Discos
officials on estimated bills.
Speaker
Yakubu Dogara said he had to disconnect his house in Bauchi that was not
occupied but receiving ₦80,000 monthly on
estimated bill.
Deputy
Majority Chief Whip, Pally Iriase described estimated bill as a serious
financial oppression, adding that the sale of the National asset was faulty
from the beginning.
Saying
that the arbitrariness of the billing is real, Iriase regretted that “the
people who were handed our commonwealth for nothing and making millions out of
it could not add any value to it.
“These
are the same people who don’t want to install the meters even after the
consumers have paid for the meter, they kept on giving excuses.”
Muhammad
Monguno (APC, Borno) wonder why estimated bill was alien to Nigeria’s
less-developed neighbours like Chad and Sudan and others that Nigeria supplies
power to.
Mrs.
Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (PDP, Abia) regretted that corruption has eaten deep into
the system. She described as unacceptable a situation whereby an entire
community in parts of Southeast gets one prepaid meter while the bill, running
into hundreds of thousands are shared by individuals within the community.
“Billing
on one prepaid meter by the entire community is always causing problems every
time”, she added.
Sergius
Ogun (PDP, Delta) lamented that the ₦215
billion intervention fund given to the sector, and by extension to the DisCos,
has yielded no result.
The
Principal Act was amended by creating new Sections 68 to 72 as Section 68 (1),
estimated billing methodology is hereby prohibited in Nigeria.
Below
are the provisions:
· Section
68(2): Every electricity consumer in Nigeria shall apply to the electricity
distribution company carrying out business within his jurisdiction for a
pre-paid meter and such consumer shall pay the regulated fee for pre-paid meter
to be installed in his premises and the electricity distribution company shall
within 30 days of receiving the application and payment install the pre-paid
meter applied for in the premises of the consumer.
· Section
68(3): Customers who elect to buy their pre-paid meters through Credit
Advancement Metering Implementation must state it in their applications and
such customers must be metered within 30 days of the receipt of their
applications.
· Section
68(4): All electricity charges or billings to the premises of every consumer
shall be based strictly on pre-paid metering and no consumer shall be made to
pay any bill without a pre-paid meter first being installed at the premises of
the consumer.
· Section
68(5): If a customer is not metered within 30 days after application has been
duly made, the relevant electricity distribution company is prohibited from
refusing to connect the customer or disconnect the customer in the event that
the customer has been connected or estimate his bills
· Section
69: Upon connection, the electricity distribution company serving the Consumer
must inform the customer in writing on the nature of the meter installed, tariff
methodology and all other services available to the customer.
· Section
70: In giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the National Electricity
Regulatory Commission as the regulatory body must ensure that all licensed
distribution companies comply with the provisions of this Act.
· Section
71: All cases of illegal disconnection, refusal of the relevant distribution
company to connect a customer after application, un-metering within 30 (thirty)
days of a customer applying for a pre-paid meter and estimated billing shall
attract both civil and criminal liability. Any officer found guilty shall be
liable to a fine of ₦500,000, or imprisonment
for a term of 6 months or to both such fine and imprisonment as the Court may
deem fit.
· Section
94 sub-Section (2)of the Principal Act is amended by creating a new sub-section
(4) as follows: Any person who performs any act or does anything or refuses,
fails and/or neglected to carry out his lawful duties with intention to
contravene or frustrate the Implementation of Sections 68 and 71 of this Act is
said to have committed an offence; and upon conviction shall be liable to 6
(six) months imprisonment or a fine of ₦1,000,000
or to both such fine and imprisonment without prejudice to the right of the
Commission to cancel or suspend any license under this Act.
The bill scaled second
reading after it was unanimously passed in a voice vote.
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