A bill to
criminalize the use of ‘estimated billing’ in the calculation of electricity
consumed and to be paid for by consumers by Nigeria’s electricity distribution
companies has passed first reading in the House of Representatives.
The bill which
was sponsored by the House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, contains sections
criminalizing the arbitrary estimation of energy consumed by consumers who have
not been supplied pre-paid meters by the electricity distribution companies.
Gbajabiamila
said the bill was necessitated by complaints from constituents across the
country who felt regulations by the executive had failed to arrest the
highhandedness of electricity distribution companies.
He said the
legislation would resolve the unfavorable technical manipulation of the reading
pattern of existing pre-paid meters, which have led to incommensurate
calculation of purchased electricity credit.
The bill
recommends six months imprisonment for any official of an electricity
distribution company found guilty of illegally disconnecting a customer or
failing to provide a pre-paid meter for a client after 30 days of application.
Gbajabiamila
guaranteed that the legislators would push the bill until it is signed into
law.
- Saharareporters
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