Dr Sam Amadi, Chairman and CEO, NERC

Abuja, Nigeria --- (METERING.COM) --- February 12, 2013 - The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has ordered the country’s distributors to issue meters to their customers who have already paid for them within 45 days.

The NERC resolution comes seven months after the announcement that customers would no longer pay for meters as their cost has already been captured in the tariff. However, to date, records show that there are an unacceptable number of customers who are without meters, according to an NERC statement. Further, compounding the issue is the menace of unrealistic estimated or ‘crazy’ bills.

The NERC statement says options on the table include possible customer financing and the use of accredited meter vendors, details of which will be worked out in due course. The Commission said it also resolved to ensure standardization and efficiency in the deployment of the meters and to that end a public notice will soon be issued for all meter vendors to apply for certification of their products in line with the metering code. The Bureau of Public Procurement will also be requested to fast track a “no objection certification” for various vendors.

“Customers are advised to report to NERC any violation of this order and we will ensure that punitive action is taken against any erring disco,” warned the chairman and CEO, Dr Sam Amadi.

Last year the NERC found in a study that almost 55 percent of electricity customers in Nigeria are not metered or don’t have a working meter. At that time chairman Amadi was quoted as saying the discos had committed to distributing metering facilities to all customers within 18 months.

The NERC is also undertaking a review of the metering code with a view to updating it to take account of new developments in metering technology.