NERC to Penalise Eight Discos for Abuse of Metering Scheme

By Chineme Okafor in Abuja

Following its dissatisfaction with the level of implementation of the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) by majority of the electricity distribution companies (Discos) in Nigeria, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) yesterday said it would commence enforcement action against eight Discos for non-compliance with terms in the CAPMI initiative.

NERC in a statement from its head of public affairs, Dr. Usman Arabi, said it had issued to the Discos a seven-day ultimatum to show cause why punitive actions should not be taken and sanction meted on them for non-compliance with the CAPMI.
The commission explained that its decision to punish the Discos stems from their violation of the provisions of the terms and conditions of the licences they hold.

It noted that notice of the enforcement action was contained in a letter it sent to the defaulting utilities which are Port Harcourt, Abuja, Yola and Enugu Discos.

Others that got the letter were Ibadan, Ikeja, Eko and Benin Discos as well.
Quoting from the letter, NERC said: “The commission considers your actions as manifest and flagrant breaches and therefore requires you to show cause in writing within seven days from the date hereon, why enforcement should not be commenced against you and sanctions meted accordingly for non-compliance with the terms and conditions of the license granted you and the order on Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation.”

According to NERC, the order introducing the CAPMI scheme became effective on May 14, 2013, and in which it directed that the scheme should commence and be implemented at the same time in all the Discos.

It explained that the Discos were also to redeploy meters under the scheme to willing customers, including the installation of same within 45 days from the date of the payment by any customer who shows interest in participating in the scheme.

It also said in the letter to the Discos that it had observed from public consultation and monitoring exercises carried out to ascertain the implementation level of the CAPMI that the Discos have either failed or neglected to fully implement the CAPMI scheme.

“Condition 2 (1) of the terms and conditions of the licence granted the Discos provides as follows; ‘the licencee shall comply with the conditions of this licence and the requirements of the licenced  business as set out in the Act and aegulations approved by the commission in accordance with the commission’s statutory duty to monitor all licencees’.

“They also have been found to be collecting money from customers for credit meters, not minding whether they opted for the scheme, including not publicising the scheme, thus giving misleading information to customers,” NERC added in the statement.

Culled from:http://www.thisdaylive.com