The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has fined Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) N200 million for non-compliance with the Supplementary Order to the April 2024 Multi-Year Tariff Order 2024.
The AEDC fine comes on the heels of AEDC’s failure to comply with the prescribed customer band classifications for the tariff billing.
The decision according to NERC follows a detailed review and customer feedback, which revealed that AEDC had applied the new tariff to all customer bands, contrary to the Order, which was designed to ensure fair billing practices.
NERC in a statement signed by the management mandated AEDC to make refunds to the affected customers.
It said, “AEDC is therefore mandated to reimburse all customers in Bands B, C, D and E respectively that were billed above the allowed customer categories/tariff bands provided in the Order.
Reimburse through the provision of the balance of customer tokens that the affected customers would be entitled to receive at the applicable rates and all token reimbursements shall be issued to the affected customers by 11 April 2024.
File evidence of compliance with the directives in a & c with the Commission by 12 April 2024. The action by the Commission underscores its commitment to protecting consumer rights and ensuring equitable practices within Nigeria’s electricity sector.”
Recall that NERC had on Wednesday increased electricity tariff for Band A customers from the current N66 per kilowatt hour to N225, representing a 240 per cent increase.
Band A consumers are those who are enjoying electricity supply for an upward of 20 hours daily. NERC had in 2020 introduced Service-Based Tariff (SBT) to improve service delivery to end-user Customers and ensure that electricity tariffs paid by end-user customers are a reflection of the services delivered by the Distribution Companies based on the number of hours of electricity supply per day.
Other categorization under the SBT are Band B: Minimum of 16 hours daily electricity supply, Band C: Minimum of 12 hours daily electricity supply, Band D: Minimum of 8 hours and Band E: Minimum of 4 hours daily electricity supply.
A statement by the NERC Executive Vice Chairman, Mr. Musiliu Oseni, however, assured that customers on Band B to E would not be impacted in the new tariff adjustment.
He disclosed that customers in Band A account for 15 per cent of the 12 million electricity consumers in the nation.
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