From David Onuoja, Abuja
The Commissioner for legal, Licensing and Compliance, under Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dafe Akpeneye, has lambasted Distribution Companies (DisCos), saying, DisCos thought they are doing customers favor in their operation process.
Akpeneye, stated this during the NESI stakeholders meeting where, he argued that DisCos are thinking, they are doing customers favor.
Speaking on the reviewing for data on Meter Asset Provider (MAP), refunds and installations, the Commissioner highlighted the poor performance of specific utilities, noting that Abuja and Kano DisCos have achieved only 2% compliance on refunds.
While addressing the backlog of paid-for but uninstalled meters, he rejected technical excuses giving by DisCos; saying, “If your network is not ready for metering, do not collect people’s money”.
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He further observed that for every transformer or meter not installed, DisCos incur losses, hence it is in their interest to meter customers and fix transformer-related issues.
Dafe also revealed that over 350,000 meters are yet to be migrated to the new STS standard, demanding immediate cleanup of obsolete data.
The legal, Licensing and Compliance man, issued a sharp rebuke to DisCos, condemning their poor performance on MAP refunds and installations despite thousands of customers awaiting prepaid meters they already paid for.
He stressed that every uninstalled meter or transformer represents financial loss for the DisCos, urging them to fix network gaps and accelerate metering to curb revenue leakages.
While using an illustration of a banking sector, where he argued that, just as a “Post No Debit” order forces a bank customer to visit a branch, DisCos must use their vending platforms to enforce compliance. “If you don’t know where the meter is, the customer shouldn’t be able to vend,” he stated.
