NLC urges NERC to provide meters to eliminate estimated billing

Ayuba Wabba, the President Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to direct Distribution Companies (DisCos) to stop estimated billing.

Wabba made the call at the “Public Consultation on Capping of Estimated Billing, Distribution Franchising and Competitive Transition Charge’’ organised by NERC in Abuja on Monday.

He said that estimated billing was exploitative and had continued unabated, adding that it could be addressed by providing meters to customers.

“Your organisation is essentially a regulatory outfit, recently I had to make a statement that it seems the agency is soft on the operators and hard on customers for obvious reasons.

“How can we make progress in such a situation, it shouldn’t be about profit, but it should be about service to Nigerians.

“Therefore, I want you this time around to make sure you bring the full wrath of the law to respond to those people that are actually making things difficult for Nigerians.’’

According to Wabba, power is central to development of the country and businesses, especially those in the manufacturing sector.

He said that labour and capital work hand-in-hand, adding that “what affects capital, affects labour, so that is why the issue of electricity is dear to our heart.’’

The NLC boss said that the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) had continued to decry the lack of stable power supply as their businesses were almost going under.

“Industries are closing down because they have to run on generators, power is not stable and it is too expensive.

“We cannot create jobs if we don’t have stable power supply, if we are going to the wrong direction, we should put a stop to this as it will not take us to the ultimate direction.

“This type of interaction is very important but you must also act on our complaints, we must be able to do what is right.’’