From David Onuoja, Abuja
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has warned the public from illegal operations as it announced the penalty for tampering of meters including by-pass from unauthorized person (s) with the administrative charge including meter replacement cost and reconnection charge of N100,000.00 and above.
According to a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the Commission’s Public Communication Department, said, the Amended Order on Unauthorised Access, Meter Tampering, and By-pass replaces Order No: NERC/REG/41/2017 has taken effect from 22 January 2025.
With this, the amendment aligns with the Electricity Act 2023 and the Customer Protection Regulations (CPR) 2023, which allow Distribution Companies (DisCos), to disconnect unauthorised connections without notice and prescribe reconnection conditions.
Statement further said that, “the order aim is to reduce unauthorised access to electricity, meter tampering, and by-pass. To Establish transparent reconnection guidelines to ensure compliance.”
The breakdown of penalties of the violators are as follows: Non-MD Single Phase (Residential) 100,000.00 for the first offence but second offense to attract N150,000.00 each while Non-MD three phase (Residential) is N200 and N300 respectively; and Maximum Demand (MD) is 450% to 600%.of last recorded consumptions.
However, NERC has said that if it is the fault of a Discos who refused to reconnect a customer after payment, the Discos will compensate the customer with 100% of his/her daily energy consumption in credit.
On the other hand, the statement did not say anything on the side of Discos if the electricity are disconnected by the Discos Company illegally.
