514
By Daniel Adaji
The Association for Public Policy Analysis (APPA), has criticized the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for failing to enforce policies that safeguard electricity consumers’ rights.
In a formal letter dated 17th March 2025 addressed to the Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC and seen by our reporter, the group outlined several instances where the commission has allegedly neglected its responsibilities, including a failure to ensure consumer awareness of critical regulations, inadequate oversight of metering programs, and lack of action against electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) that exploit consumers.
The association also called for an immediate review of DISCOs’ operations, emphasising that the FCCPC must take decisive steps to protect Nigerian electricity consumers.
One of the major grievances raised by APPA is the FCCPC’s failure to educate consumers about their rights under the Electricity Act 2023 and the Customer Protection Regulations of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The group pointed out that these regulations provide standards for electricity service quality, complaint handling, billing, and connection procedures, yet the FCCPC has done little to create awareness.
“It is unfortunate to observe that the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission has not carried out enlightenment for consumers to understand these consumer protection components of the Electricity Act 2023 and the Customer Protection Regulations of NERC,” the letter stated.
“This calls into question how FCCPC is carrying out its mandate under Section 18(2) of the FCCPC Act 2018, which provides that the Commission shall make general information available to persons engaged in economic activities and for the guidance of consumers with respect to their rights,” it added.
The association also criticized the handling of the National Mass Metering Program (NMMP), a policy introduced in 2020 to provide free electricity meters to Nigerian consumers. Despite an initial N200 billion earmarked for the programme, with N59 billion disbursed to DISCOs by the Central Bank of Nigeria for the first phase, many consumers remain unmetered. Instead, consumers are now required to pay for meters without clear accountability regarding how the allocated funds were used.
“Today, the account of how the funds were disbursed and the beneficiaries of the free meters’ distribution is not clear to Nigerians. Many consumers have remained unmetered despite the NMMP government initiative program. Instead, consumers are now made to pay for meters without an explanation of how many consumers have benefited from the NMMP initiated since 2020,” it stated.
The group insisted that FCCPC has a duty under Section 17(b) of its Act to investigate anti-consumer and anti-competitive practices in Nigeria.
“In this regard, therefore, it is expected that FCCPC should call for the review of the consumer protection perspective of metering policy and programs of the power sector,” the letter added.
Another major concern raised by APPA is the lack of enforcement of NERC’s Network Expansion Investment Policy. The policy mandates that consumers or third parties who invest in electricity network infrastructure should be refunded. However, many consumers, unaware of the policy due to poor enlightenment, end up funding such projects out of desperation without any reimbursement.
“The consequence of this failure is that consumers, desperate to have electricity, contribute money and ignorantly commence the process of funding the purchase of electricity infrastructure without the DISCOs putting in any money or signing an agreement to enable consumers to recover their investments afterward. Instead, DISCOs tell consumers to sign off that they donated the infrastructure to them,” it wrote.
APPA insists that FCCPC must take immediate action to ensure that the network expansion policy is enforced properly and that consumers are not unfairly burdened with costs meant for the DISCOs.
Given the outlined grievances, APPA has made the following demands:
The Executive Vice Chairman of FCCPC set up a team or committee to review the highlighted policy issues and recommend appropriate actions in line with the commission’s mandate.
The association should be allowed to work with the committee in analyzing and investigating these issues.
The FCCPC investigates concerns regarding the Electricity Consumer Education Committee and takes necessary corrective measures.
APPA’s National President, Princewill Okorie, signed the letter, emphasizing the urgent need for FCCPC to act decisively to protect electricity consumers in Nigeria.
“The purpose of this write-up is to raise electricity consumer protection policy issues affecting Nigerian electricity consumers, which the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has been empowered to address by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018. Unfortunately, the Commission has not addressed them, thereby calling into question the ability of the leadership and staff of the Commission to carry out their statutory functions, which is primarily to protect and promote consumer interest,” the letter added.
The commission has yet to provide an official response to this letter when contacted by this reporter.