Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission - New Order on the Capping of Estimated Bills in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (“NERC”), issued the Order on the Capping of Estimated Bills in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (the “Order”) on February 20, 2020. The Order repealed the NERC (Methodology for Estimated Billing) Regulations 2012 (the “Estimated Billing Methodology Regulations”) and took effect from the date of its issuance.
The Order stipulates the maximum electricity consumption for which unmetered customers in the R2 and C1 tariff classes may be billed, based on the tariffs prescribed in the December 2019 Minor Review of the Multi-Year Tariff Order (“MYTO”) 2015 and Minimum Remittance Order for the Year 2020, for each DisCo. The Order, thus, effectively caps the estimated billing charges which may be imposed by DisCos on unmetered customers within the affected tariff classes. The energy caps for the business units of each DisCo are stipulated in Schedule 1 to the Order. It should be noted, however, that the Order stipulates the maximum energy consumption for which these customers may be charged and precludes DisCos from making upward adjustments of estimated bills below the capped amount.