The Ikeja Electricity Distribution
Company has been fined N131.4m by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
Commission for defying the regulator’s metering order.
According to NERC, the firm has been
sanctioned for its “flagrant breaches” of the Credited Advance Payment
on Metering Initiative Order.
It stated that the fine was contained in
Order NERC/141 and was issued on September 29, 2015 as a follow up to
an earlier notice of commencement of enforcement action on the Disco
alongside 10 others.
NERC said in a statement on Sunday that
the firm, also known as Ikeja Electric, had manifested flagrant breaches
in the implementation of the metering initiative.
It
said, “The seven days granted (the firm) to show cause why enforcement
action should not be commenced expired on August 24, 2015 and IKEDC has
failed, refused and/or neglected to respond to the manifest or provide a
satisfactory response.
“It is hereby ordered that IKEDC shall
with immediate effect from the date of this order comply with the CAPMI
order and forward evidence of full compliance to the commission within
two weeks. IKEDC shall pay an administrative fine of N250 per minute of
every hour of the day for a period of one year from September 29, 2014
to September 28, 2015 for non- compliance with the CAPMI order, with a
moratorium from May 14, 2013, being the date of the CAPMI order, to
September 28, 2014.”
The electricity distribution company was
further ordered to “pay an administrative fine of N500 per minute for
every hour of the day that it continues to default from October 12, 2015
until it complies.”
NERC said IKEDC’s action violated
Section 63(1) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005; Section
2(1) of the terms and conditions of its licence; as well as the
commission’s order on the CAPMI.
The CAPMI is an initiative of the
commission to assist the power distribution companies to close the wide
metering gap in the power sector. It was introduced following a
nationwide study conducted by NERC, which revealed that more than 50 per
cent of electricity consumers were not metered but instead were on
estimated billing.
The initiative permits willing
electricity consumer to pay for their meters, which should be supplied
within 45 days after payment is made. The customer is thereafter
refunded his money over a period of time through a rebate or reduction
in the fixed charge component of the electricity bill.
NERC said it initiated the scheme
following complaints of lack of funds to meter customers by the Discos,
adding that the wide metering gap accounted for the high incidence of
customers’ complaints, commercial losses and high operating cost in the
Nigerian electricity supply industry.
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