The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to ensure that consumers get meters as prescribed in the service agreement electricity distribution companies (DisCos) had with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

Acting Chairman, NERC, Dr. Anthony Akah, regretted that gas pipeline vandalism was on the increase and called for stiffer measures to check the menace.

The two organisations are also to work closely with consumers to ensure that those who volunteered to pay for meters under the Credit Advance Payment Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme get their meters within 60 days or not to be billed until meters were provided.

Akah said: “It is our believe that with this collaboration with the CPC, complaints that may arise in the course of the implementation of the good tariff and other electricity consumers related ones would be effectively managed and addressed in line with the Commission’s redress mechanism.

He said: “The CPC has a member in each of NERC’s consumer forums located nationwide; we intend to intensify enforcement of consumer protection regulations on metering, billing and the perennial complaints of estimated customers. There shall also be concerted efforts aimed at reducing the incidence of estimated billing and eventually eliminating them completely.

“The increasing incidents of vandalism of electricity infrastructure, energy theft, hostility to operators are also issues we hope to jointly address.”
Source: The Nation