By Thompson ABISOLA
An energy expert, Mr Emmanuel Adebayo, on Wednesday urged the National Assembly to halt the process of criminalising issuance of estimated bills by the distribution companies (DisCos) to unmetered customers.
Adebayo, who is the immediate past Chairman, Nigerian Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (NIEEE), said this in Lagos.
According to him, criminalising issuance of estimated billing by DisCos is more political than professional.Adebayo said if the NASS could pass the bill it would create more problems for both electricity consumers and power providers.
He urged the lawmakers to allow the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to take proper action on Discos caught billing their customers arbitrarily without following the lay down regulations on estimated billing.
“When you look at the issue of estimated billing, you discover that both consumers and Discos are being affected by the billing system, but consumers are the most affected.
“All the same, that does not mean that the National Assembly should go ahead and criminalise the billing system.
“NERC should be mandated to take proper action against the DisCos.We must be aware that investors in power sector are in business to make profit, but they should not use the billing system to exploit innocent Nigeria consumers.
“So, when you look at the angle in which our legislature are handling the issue, one discovers that the motive behind criminalising estimated billing is more political than being professional,” he said.
TBI Africa reports that NERC had on April 20 warned that there would be chaos in the power sector if the National Assembly should criminalise the issuance of estimated bills by power distribution companies to unmetered customers.
According to NERC, a regulation that deals with estimated billing already exist in the power sector, stressing that another law on the matter may lead to a complete disorder in the industry.
TBI Africa also reports that the House of Representatives recently commenced moves to outlaw estimated billing of consumers by Discos.
The bill was sponsored by the House Leader, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, to prohibit the issuance of such bills to consumers across the country.
