The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued a stern warning to Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) to immediately cease plans to replace some metres.
In a statement by its Director, Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, the consumer protection body emphasised that any breach of its directive would lead to severe penalties.
Last month, the commission stepped in to address the growing concerns surrounding the planned phaseout of Unistar prepaid meters by the DisCos. It urged the DisCos to absorb the cost of replacing the obsolete meters without passing on additional charges to consumers.
In the statement, the FCCPC addressed rumours suggesting that DisCos might defy its order, originally issued to prevent any unauthorised metre replacements that could negatively impact.
The FCCPC reaffirmed that its mandate remains in effect, noting that recent approvals for new metre prices from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) bear no relation to the Unistar replacement plans.
It said both regulatory bodies, FCCPC and NERC, have invalidated the replacement programme, and no indication of non-compliance has emerged from the DisCos thus far.
Ikeja and Eko DisCos are permitted to replace meters only by NERC’s Order on Structured Replacement of Faulty and Obsolete End-user Customer Meters (Order No. NERC/246/2021).
The guidelines stipulate that metre replacements must proceed without service disruption, at no additional cost to customers and with assurances against estimated billing during the replacement period.
