NERC orders Enugu DISCOs to refund N11.18 billion to South-East customers over crazy & over estimated bill

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has ordered the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company to refund money to over-billed 1,011,402 customers in the South eastern Nigeria within the period of January to September, 2023 through over estimation.

At the billing cycle for energy consumed in February 2024, NERC said EEDC shall credit the accounts for all customers that were over-billed between January to September 2023 based on the Commission’s assessment as contained in Schedule 1.

The Nigerian electricity regulator also lamented that the persistent non-compliance with the order on capping of estimated bills by the EEDC for the period January-September 2023 had led to widespread customer dissatisfaction.

This also had an impact on revenue generated by the government there-by aggravating customer apathy to pay their bills and contributing to the liquidity issues in the NESI.

A check on order no 2024/006 by the NERC indicates that the sum of N11,866,263,420.31 was over-billed from customers between January and September 2023.

“Upon completion of the review, the commission issued an RD stipulating a 14-day compliance deadline which expired in August 2023.

“The RD also notified EEDC that further regulatory actions shall be taken in accordance with the KPI Order for subsequent non-compliance. The continuous failure of EEDC to adhere to the commission’s monthly caps for estimated billing has led to significant over-billing of customers,” the NERC noted.

The monthly over-billings were analysed as N203,375 customers over-billed N1,933,495,624 in September; 188,298 customers were over-billed N1,745,269,356 in August, while 169,867 customers were over-billed N1,700,205,554 in July, among others.

The commission ordered as follows: “At the billing cycle for energy consumed in February 2024, EEDC shall reconcile the accounts and issue credit adjustments for all customers that were over-billed between January-September 2023 based on the Commission’s assessment as contained in Schedule 1.

“EEDC shall submit its billing data for the February 2024 cycle (and any other relevant information) to the Commission as evidence of compliance with the provisions of section 11(A)(6) of this Order, no later than the 31st of March 2024.

“EEDC shall publish, in 2 (two) National dailies, citing the provisions of this Order, the list of credit adjustment beneficiaries (follow the sample contained in Schedule 1), and the same concurrently posted on its website, not later than the 31st of March 2024.”

To forestall further non-compliance, the NERC ordered a deduction of N1,186,626,342, which is equivalent to 10% of the naira value of the total over-billing for the period January – September 2023, to be applied to EEDC’s annual OpEx over a rolling 12-month period during the next tariff review.

It warned that notwithstanding the provisions of section 11(B)(6), and pursuant to the provision of section 34(2)(F) of the EA 2023, the Commission may deduct a greater percentage of the total over-billing from EEDC’s admin OPEX where non-compliance with capping Orders persists.

The EEDC has yet to react to this development as of the time of filing this report.