By Musa Adamu
Abuja
Federal government has ordered that effective from today the nation’s Distribution companies (DISCOS) must stop collecting fixed charge from consumers who had no power for 15 days of a month.
Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Sam Amadi, gave the directive while addressing news men in Abuja yesterday.
Amadi said the commission had resolved and ordered that from 1st May, consumers who do not receive supply for more than 15 days either cumulative or continuous would not pay the fixed charge for that month.
He however clarified that provided the outage was not due to disconnection (nonpayment of bills) or any issue caused by the consumer but as a result of power equipment failure including transformer breakdown.
While explaining the essence of fixed charge in the power system, Amadi said “the fixed charge is a a key element in electricity but that does not mean
it won’t change in any tariff year,” adding that the fixed charge may change from year to year but does not change irrespective of what a consumer consumed.
Also speaking, the commissioner for government and consumer affairs division, Dr. Abba Ibrahim, urged consumers who had such cases to report to NERC forum office for redress, adding that the DISCOS were mandated to forfeit the fixed charges for such months from the affected consumers.
