The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has flagged off the public hearing on metering problems bedeviling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, with a view to finding lasting solutions for them. The flag off followed the inauguration of a 13-man committee by NERC in December 2011.

Speaking at the public hearing of the Metering Inquiry Committee last week in Lagos, the NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, said the committee is saddled with the responsibility to conduct public inquiry and find effective ways to address metering issues in the country.

Amadi said the essence of the public hearing is to ensure that accurate data are gathered, aimed at conducting analysis on the complex and perennial metering problem.

He said that in order to ensure transparency and openness throughout the exercise, the commission has made provision for active participation of some distinguished members of the society from all part of the country.

“In the course of our job we will constantly seek and analyse data from various sector including participants, plants operators, transmission companies, distribution companies, bulk traders, gas operators and electricity customers to ensure accuracy.

“We must balance the report and interest of all stakeholders before arriving at fair, reasonable and objective decision, regulations, rules, orders and directives for the overall development of the sector wellbeing of all stakeholders,” he said.
Amadi explained that the commission constituted the committee to address numerous complaints on metering related issues.

He, however, urged Nigerians to support the committee in finding lasting solutions to metering problems in the country.
In his opening remarks, the Committee Chairman, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, promised that the committee will ensure an effective process for the public hearing in all the six-geo-political zones in the country, to give consumers and other stakeholders the opportunity to state their issues.

Aturu argued that the public hearings will provide the platform for both the authority and electricity consumers to address lingering problems associated with metering and electricity consumption in the country.

“Our task is to assist the regulators in its task of providing an efficient and fair template to ensure that consumers are equitably billed by having a sound metering system.

“We are basically a fact-finding committees, we intend to carefully stick to that mandate, while we assured that nobody will be witch hunted by this committee because the key benefit of this exercise is to strengthen the regulatory process in the electricity sector,” he said.