By Eyo Nsima
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has put Nigeria’s pre-metered customers at only 42.25%.
In its 4th quarter of 2022 report obtained by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com, the agency that regulates activities in the sector, stated: “The NESI continues to be challenged by the inadequate deployment of end-use customer meters – as of December 2022, only 5,134,871 (42.25%) of the 12,152,106 registered energy customers have been metered. The net metering rate represents a +2.99 pp increase compared to the 39.26% recorded at the end of 2022/Q3.
“A total of 164,612 meters were installed in 2022/Q4 compared to the 142,887 meters installed in 2022/Q3 —an increase of +21,725 installations (+15.20%). The Commission expects DisCos to utilise any of the five (5) meter financing mechanisms that have been provided in the 2021 Meter Asset Provider and National Mass Metering Regulations (NERC – R – 113 – 2021) to close their respective metering gaps. As a safeguard for customers against exploitation due to the lack of meters, the Commission has continued to issue monthly energy caps for all feeders in each DisCo which sets the maximum amount of energy that may be billed to an unmetered customer for the respective month based on gross energy received by the DisCo and the consumption of metered customers.
“In 2022/Q4, the DisCos cumulatively received 261,278 complaints from consumers — this is +13,952 more complaints (+5.64%) than those received in 2022/Q3. In total, the DisCos resolved 238,765 complaints corresponding to a 91.38% resolution rate which is very identical to the 91.59% recorded in 2022/Q3.”
It maintained that, “Metering, billing, and service interruption were the prevalent sources of customer complaints, accounting for more than 79% of the total complaints during the quarter. The Commission has introduced initiatives to address this category of complaints such as the independent verification of DisCos compliance with the capping regulation.
“Pursuant to the provisions of its Customer Complaints Handling Standards and Procedure Regulations, the Commission set up forum panels across the country to review unresolved disputes from the DisCos’ Complaint handling nits. In 2022/Q4, the Forum Offices had a total of 2,594 active appeals (inclusive of the pending 1,137 appeals from /Q from customers who were dissatisfied with DisCos’ decision on the complaints lodged at the CCU.
“During the period, the Forum Panels held eighty-one (81) sittings and resolved 1,520 (58.60%) of the appeals filed at Forum Offices nationwide, this means 1,074 appeals were yet to be resolved as of the end of 2022/Q4. The Commission continues to take measures that will ensure a more efficient customer complaint resolution process starting with improvements in the quality of complaint resolution at the CCU of the DisCos.”
