What do we mean by Electricity Rights? Did you know that as a user of electricity in Nigeria, you have certain rights?
Almost every Nigerian living in Nigeria is an electricity consumer, and therefore all Nigerians need to understand what their rights are as it concerns the distribution and supply of electricity.
However, before we discuss the electricity rights of consumers, I would like to tell you about a gentleman called Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld.
Hohfeld was an American jurist who developed the theory of Jural Relations – I won’t bore you with the legal details but essentially at the heart of Hohfeld’s theory is the idea that legal rights and legal duties are not absolute, but rather they exist in relation to one another.
In other words, every legal right is accompanied by a corresponding legal duty, and every legal duty is owed to someone who has a corresponding legal right.
Therefore, applying Hohfeld’s theory here, for every right to electricity which a customer should have then they should generally expect that there is a duty which is owed in correlation. Who are the players?
In this week’s newsletter, apart from the electricity customers, we will be referencing two other entities – the NERC and the DisCos.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) – The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission is an independent body, established by the Electricity Act 2023 (originally established under Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005) as the regulator of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry. One of its major functions is to ensure the safety, security, reliability and quality of service in the production and delivery of electricity to consumers.
Distribution Companies (DisCos) – There are currently 11 DisCos in Nigeria (this will probably increase over the next several months/years with the passage of the Electricity Act 2023 recently. These DisCos are licensed by the NERC to distribute electricity to the homes and offices of customers across Nigeria.
So what are your rights?
The NERC has a list of 15 rights and 11 obligations/duties, but after we reviewed them we identified that they all could conveniently fall within one of the four groups of rights below:
Group 1: Meter Rights
All electricity customers have a right to a meter, and the meter must be properly installed and functioning. In addition, there should be transparent electricity billing when using the meter. All Un-metered customers should be issued with electricity bills strictly based on NERC’s estimated billing methodology.
The corresponding duty here is the obligation to provide the requirements for connection as stipulated by NERC and the DisCo.
Group 2: Billing Rights
It is the customer’s right to contest any electricity bill. Any un-metered customer who is disputing his or her estimated bill has the right not to pay the disputed bill, but pay only the last undisputed bill as the contested bill go through the dispute resolution process of NERC. The customer has a right to a refund when they have been over-billed.
The corresponding duty here is the duty to pay bills for electricity consumed within the stipulated time frame. In addition, the customer has a duty to notify the DisCo serving the customer of any outstanding electricity bill before moving into new premises.
Group 3: Connection Rights
The DisCo is legally prohibited from just coming to your residence and disconnecting your electricity. Even in instances where you are owing your electricity bill. To be clear, they do I have a right to disconnect your electricity in certain circumstances – but to exercise that right they must first give you written notice that they will be disconnecting your electricity. They can’t surprise you with it.
Also, you should know that it is not the responsibility of electricity customer or the community to buy, replace or repair electricity transformers, poles and related equipment used in the supply of electricity. So, if your transformer blows, it is not your duty to replace it.
The corresponding duty here is the duty to ensure vigilant protection of electrical installations, and to ensure that metering and other electrical equipment within the customer’s premises belonging to the DisCo is not tampered with, or by-passed – and to notify the DisCo if any such tampering or bypassing occurs.
Group 4: Customer Satisfaction Rights
Where customers are unsatisfied with the service by the electricity distribution company, then they have a right to make a complaint directly to the DisCo. If they are unhappy with the resolution of the complaint, or they do not get a response in a satisfactory time, then the customer has a right to escalate the complaint to the NERC Forum Office within the coverage area of the DisCo. This is not the final escalation available, and so if the customer is still unhappy with the resolution by the NERC Forum Office, they can further appeal by writing a petition to the Commission.
The corresponding duty here is that the customer needs to be in compliance to the requirements of the Distribution code
Protecting your rights
As mentioned above, you have a right to file a complaint to a DisCo when you are unhappy with the service or have a billing issue. We therefore took the liberty of identifying the link for complaints to all 11 DisCos in Nigeria: Abuja, Benin, Eko, Enugu, Ibadan, Ikeja, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Port Harcourt, Yola.
Source- LÀWPADÍ
