Following EQ’s report on the non-compliance of Ikeja Electric (IE) to a ruling issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), more customers have shared details of the distribution company’s failure to obey rulings issued by the regulatory body.

Speaking to EQ on Friday, Akinlolu Olaniyan, a Lagos-based environmentalist, stated that IE failed to obey three different rulings issued in his favour by the NERC on November 28, 2023, December 7, 2023, and July 18 — all within one year.

Olaniyan explained that the decisions were adjudicated through the Ikeja Forum, a body set up by the NERC to entertain appeals from customers left unresolved by their distribution companies, and were supposed to be complied with by the distribution company immediately.

READ ALSO: IBEDC Violates NERC Order, Refuses to Refund Osun Resident Who Purchased a Meter

Olaniyan said he requested a refund of N70,409 on the prepaid meter he bought from the distribution company on December 3, 2019.

He stated that according to an NERC policy, customers should be paid a refund of what they spent on meter purchase three years after its installation. This refund should be made as electrical tokens.

“All customers that have made payment for meters under the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme will be refunded through energy credits over a period of time approved by the Commission,” NERC’s policy states.

“Where the roll out programme of a DisCo is unacceptably long, a customer may opt to pay upfront for a meter under the provisions of the Meter Asset Provider Regulation. The option provides you with the opportunity to be metered within ten (10) working days of making your full payment and a repayment of the cost over a period of time approved by the Commission.”

The environmentalist said three years after his meter was installed, he wrote to IE asking for a refund but there was no response from them. He explained that he had to involve the Ikeja Forum, a body set up by the NERC to adjudicate unresolved disputes between distribution companies and their customers, and they gave a ruling on November 28, 2023.

Nearly one year after the forum delivered that ruling, the distribution company has yet to comply. Meanwhile, the forum’s ruling said, “IE to commence reimbursement in line with Order No: NERC/2023/001 within one billing cycle.”

A screenshot of the ruling issued in November 2023.

“I have contacted them several times on their non-compliance to the ruling and as usual, they won’t do anything. Ikeja Electric is good at lies, deceit and fraud,” Olaniyan told EQ.

“I have called them many times but they didn’t budge to the ruling.

“I first wrote for reimbursement on February 28, 2022, and then I sent it again on September 18, 2023, after I saw the NERC’s order for reimbursement of meter cost, but as usual, IE failed to obey the order.

“NERC’s ruling was on November 28, 2023, giving IE one billing cycle. When the regulatory body called me in December to follow up if the ruling had been complied with, I said no and stated that I would wait till January to give them time to obey and carry out the ruling.

“But afterwards, I did a recharge and realised that no credit adjustment was made to my account.”

The Ikeja Electric customer stated further that another case he got a ruling for from the NERC involved two of his clients, for whom the NERC ruled against IE for outrageous billing and fraudulent band classification, and ordered an adjustment on meter reading.

The second ruling Olaniyan got from NERC.

The third ruling from NERC which IE failed to comply with.

READ ALSO: IKEDC Bills Lagos Entrepreneur N113,957 for September When She Travelled, Didn’t Use Units

“IE (is) to use Estimated Billing Methodology (EBM) to reconcile the customer’s account as a Non-MD customer from August 2018 – January 2020 and use Order 197 to reconcile March 2020 – May 2020, use 2833.83kwh being the average of 6 average meter reading to reconcile the account from March 2021 – July 2021, use 3531.5kwh to reconcile the account from December 2022 – January 2023 and use 21158.51kwh to reconcile the account from November 2013 – March 2014. All this should be completed within 1 billing cycle,” NERC’s third ruling states.

“With a 24 hours’ notice, IE (is) to visit the customer within 5 working days, to carry out a load inventory with the customer, where the customer’s load is found to be above 45KVA, the customer should remain an MD customer and if the load is below 45KVA, the customer should be removed as an MD customer and classified as a Non-MD customer.

“IE [should] confirm the supply availability on the customer’s feeder as the customer complained of low supply in December 2023 and January 2024, if supply is found to be zero, the bills for the said periods should be expunged and if found to be partial supply, the bills for the periods should be prorated. This should be completed within 1 billing cycle.”

Olaniyan said that IE was yet to obey any of the rulings even though one of them had nearly stretched into one year.

When EQ called IE on Friday, Vivian, a customer support agent, said the distribution would never fail to comply with a directive issued by their regulatory body. She said that while delays might occur in the implementation of the rulings, they would certainly obey them.

“We would never fail to comply with NERC’s ruling and risk penalties. In the case you mentioned, it’s possible that the matter is still under review and cannot simply be ignored,” she said.

“There is a defined process it must go through, which includes specific time frames. While delays may occur due to various challenges, the matter will certainly be addressed once a service request is registered for that complaint.

“The challenge often lies in timing. Our network is extensive, and we have a large customer base. While we make every effort to respond to each customer’s complaint and request, realistically, some issues require more time due to the volume and nature of complaints. Certain types, especially billing-related issues, can be complex and may take longer to resolve. This doesn’t mean they won’t be addressed; it simply may require more time.

“If you could provide a service request number, I could check its status and confirm that it is pending and still requires attention. This does not imply it has been forgotten; it’s just part of the process, and it may take a bit longer.

“In some instances, investigations can take up to a year, particularly when we discover cases where customers have connected themselves directly without IE’s consent.”
The post Lagos Resident Got 3 Rulings From NERC in 1 Year. Ikeja Electric Complied With None appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.