The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said that unmetered customers must not pay beyond N1,872 per month.

According to the commission, the limit was to guide against outrageous estimated billing by distribution companies.

The commission also said the Estimated Billing Methodology Regulation would no longer be used for unmetered customers.

NERC disclosed this in its order on the capping of estimated bills in the Nigerian electricity supply industry, which it said took effect from February 20, 2020.

The commission said all unmetered R2 and C1 customers should not be invoiced for the consumption of energy beyond the cap stipulated by it.

R2 customers are residential customers, who consume more than 50 kilowatt-hour in a month (single phase and three-phase), while C1 customers are small businesses (single and three-phase).

“A consumer of XYZ Disco resident in White Acre under R2 (single phase) tariff class has an energy cap of 78 kilowatt-hour per month and a tariff of N42 per kilowatt-hour. The maximum that XYZ Disco can invoice such a customer is 78kWhr x N24/kWhr = N1,872 per month.

“The customer shall remain connected to supply without further payment to the Discos until a meter is installed on the premises under the framework of MAP Regulations or any other financing arrangement approved by the commission,” NERC said.

In another development, power generation companies in the country have raised concerns over the tariff review scheduled to take effect on April 1, 2020.

The Association of Power Generation Companies, the umbrella body for the Gencos, said NERC had not captured all the ‘changes’ in the relevant macroeconomic variables and available generation capacity in updating the operating MYTO 2015 in line with the provisions of the MYTO methodology.