Abuja DisCo To Pay N1.69bn Fine For Overbilling Customers

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), has mandated the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), to pay a fine of N1.69 billion  for over-billing customers and failing to comply with estimated bill caps.

This comes five months after NERC imposed a fine of N200 million on Abuja DisCo for wrongfully billing customers following the hike in electricity tariff for Band in A customers.

According to the Supplementary Order for September 2024 issued by NERC, the electricity fine covers between January and September 2023.

The regulator said the fine is in pursuant to the Commission’s Order NERC/2024/004 on non-compliance with the capping of estimate bills and subsequent petition hearings and review of data further provided by AEDC.

“The Commission has approved the deduction of N1.69 billion from the total annual OpEx of AEDC effective September 2024, being the 10% of the over-billed amount by AEDC for the period covering January – September 2023,” the order stated.

The Commission also stated that the approved tariffs will remain in effect subject to monthly adjustments of pass-through indices, including inflation rates, exchange rates, and gas-to-power prices. The tariff payable by customers classified under Band A in the month of September is N209.50/kWh

Also, in line with the policy direction of the Federal Government on electricity subsidy, it stated that the allowed tariffs for Bands B – E customer categories shall remain frozen at the rates payable since December 2022 subject to further policy direction by the government.