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The house of representatives has passed a bill seeking to
criminalise estimated billing in the country, among other things.
The lower legislative chamber
passed the bill on Tuesday after considering the report of its committee on
power sector.
The report was adopted unanimously
after Yusuf Lasun, deputy speaker of the house, put it to a voice vote.
The bill aims to criminalise
estimated billing and make the installation of prepaid meters compulsory for
all power consumers in Nigeria.
Bill estimation is a standard
practice used by power providers when an actual meter reading is not available
for billing purposes.
Femi Gbajabiamila, sponsor of the
bill and majority leader of the house, had said it was not justifiable to
continuously charge consumers for power not consumed.
OPPOSITION AGAINST THE BILL
Stakeholders in the power sector
kicked against the bill at a recent public hearing.
Babatunde Fashola, minister of
power, works and housing, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)
and the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) had opposed the
bill.
According to the stakeholders, the
bill will worsen the electricity situation in the country.
Fashola had said the bill could
crumble the electricity sector, noting that the financial challenges of
metering must first be addressed.
The minister had said: “I take it
that we all know what is core mandate. Their(DisCos) core mandate is to supply
energy. My view is that let new players be licensed to have the supply of
meters as their core mandate to take the load off the DisCos.
“Energy theft and meter bypass must
be addressed too by prescribing heavy penalties against offenders.”
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