CONTD. Rights of Electricity Consumers in Nigeria

Right to seek disconnection from electricity supply: An electricity consumer has a right to request to be disconnected from electricity supply at his or her supply address if the request has the consent of the occupants of the address and following such disconnection such consumer cannot be billed any more until the disconnection request is cancelled.

Right to remain connected for three months after default on payment: An electricity consumer can only be disconnected where the period between the payment date and the date of disconnection is up to three (3) months.

Right to a 24 hours response to supply complaints: Consumers are entitled to have their electricity supply complaints due to a minor fault in the Disco’s equipment attended to within 24 hours of the making of such complaint by a representative of the Disco and for other faults, within 48 hours of the initial complaint except the logistics of rectifying the fault within the 48 hours is not feasible.

Right to notice of supply interruption: An electricity consumer is entitled to be notified of interruption to electricity supply for routine maintenance at least three working days prior to such an interruption. Consumers must also be informed through the media when the Disco embarks on load management or ‘load shedding’ owing to system constraints. Consumers with demand of 1MW and above, hospitals, public water works and other essential service providers have to be informed by telephone call. For a sustained period of load shedding, power consumers must be informed of the load shedding roaster through the media.

Right to voltage complaints being attended to within 24 hours: Where a consumer complaint bothers on power being delivered at a voltage too high or too low, a representative of the Disco must attend to the problem within 24 hours of such complaint being lodged.

Right to have meter checked: Where a consumer complaint bothers on meter accuracy, a representative of the Disco must attend to the problem and have the meter tested within three working days and a response provided within five working days of the visit.

Right to have meter repositioned: Subject to the payment of the standard fee and the agreement of the Disco, a consumer is entitled to have his meter repositioned within the same premises by the Disco within five working days of the request.

Right to have prepaid meter attended to within 24 hours: A consumer using a prepaid meter is entitled to have the meter checked within 24 hours of lodging a complaint and fixed or replaced except when the meter is found to operating normally or is inaccessible.

Right to be provided with prepaid meter in 60 days under CAPMI: Consumers that have voluntarily decided to pay for meters under the Credit Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme must be provided with meters within 60 days of such payment after which period, estimated billing of such a consumer must stop.

Right to have meter read: Meters of consumers’ using post-paid meters have to be read once in a month or at least once in three months except for customers with unmetered supply or those using prepaid meters.

Right to free replacement of damaged transformers, poles etc.: Power consumers have a right to have any damaged electricity supply equipment in their environs such as power transformer, poles, cables etc. to be replaced without paying any fees for the replacement.

Right of unmetered consumers to challenge electricity bills: Unmetered electricity consumers have a right to challenge their estimated bills and while this petition is pending against such bills, they are to pay only the previous undisputed bill. 

Right to have the contact of business unit official printed on bills: Power consumers have the right to have the contact of the Disco’s business Unit officer printed on their utility bills to facilitate the making of complaints.

Right to have complaint resolved at the CCU: Electricity consumers are entitled to have their complaints resolved at the Customer Complaints Units which all Discos are mandated to setup and to have such complaints resolved within 15 working days.

Right to refer a complaint to the Consumer Forum: Electricity consumers have a right to file a complaint over complaints concerning their Discos at the designated Consumer Forum overseeing the area covered by the Disco.