{"id":122090,"date":"2025-09-08T20:56:38","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=122090"},"modified":"2025-09-08T20:56:38","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T19:56:38","slug":"electricity-amendment-bill-2025-must-protect-consumers-cso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/electricity-amendment-bill-2025-must-protect-consumers-cso\/","title":{"rendered":"Electricity Amendment Bill 2025 Must Protect Consumers &#8211; CSO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By \u200eDaniel Adaji<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eThe Electricity Consumers Advocacy Centre (ECAC), a civil society group, has called on the National Assembly to use the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 to correct what it described as persistent injustices against electricity consumers in Nigeria.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200ePresenting the group\u2019s memorandum to the Chairman, House Committee on Power, Chief Princewill Okorie, Executive Director of ECAC, said: \u201cThe idea of amending the Electricity Act is appreciated because it shall correct defects observed in the Electricity Act 2023 and the amended version in 2024. This amendment is envisaged to address the concerns of the supply side and the demand side of the curve, thereby giving the Government, Licensed Electricity Distribution Companies, Consumers and host Communities a good environment to operate to provide safe, quality, reliable and affordable electricity service to Nigerians.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eHe stressed that poor enforcement of consumer rights remained at the heart of problems in the power sector, including poor liquidity, vandalism, and unsafe networks. \u201cIt is for this reason that we have proposed for Electricity Consumer Rights Protection Enforcement Agency and National Safe Electricity Installation Empowerment Center as components of the Electricity (Amendment) Act 2025,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eAccording to a copy of the document obtained by Pointblanknews.com\u00a0 Monday, consumers face \u201chigh tariffs and unfair disconnection\u201d whenever they challenge overbilling.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eOkorie argued that while Discos punish alleged meter bypass instantly, legitimate complaints against the companies take weeks without resolution, leaving customers in darkness.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eHe pointed to sections of the Electricity Act 2023 that impose heavy penalties on consumers but spare service providers. \u201cWho will rescue the Nigerian Electricity consumer from this gross injustice?\u201d he asked, noting that claims of 20-hour supply for Band A consumers are often false, with many households receiving less than five hours daily but paying full tariffs.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eECAC also accused Distribution Companies (Discos) of exploiting consumers who fund transformers, poles, and cables under the Network Expansion Investment Policy without refunds.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e\u201cPainfully, the Disco that failed to invest one kobo in the process go to collect revenue once electricity is connected from the same Consumers who invested to make the business possible without refunding them,\u201d Okorie said.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eHe further criticized the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) scheme, where customers who paid for meters were not refunded as promised. He said many were also being charged under the Meter Acquisition Fund, describing it as double billing.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eBeyond consumer injustice, ECAC called for stronger policies to promote renewable energy. The group noted challenges such as energy access inequality, importation of substandard solar products, weak institutional support, and political interference from oil and gas stakeholders.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200ethe group urged the government to subsidize clean energy, increase public and private investment, and support community-based solar mini-grids. He said a just energy transition should ensure \u201cclean energy is accessible, affordable, and beneficial to all, especially the most vulnerable.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eOn safety, ECAC proposed the National Safe Electricity Installation Empowerment Program (NASEIEP) to tackle the growing number of uncertified technicians across Nigeria. According to findings, about 88,090 unqualified practitioners are carrying out electrical installations in the country, exposing citizens to fires, electrocution, and infrastructure failures.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eOkorie explained that NASEIEP would \u201cimprove the safety, quality, and reliability of electricity installations across Nigeria through enforcement of compliance with national electrical installation laws and empowerment of certified installers.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eThe group commended sections of the amendment bill that strengthen the National Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (N-HYPPADEC), noting it would eliminate conflicts between power companies and host communities over project funds.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eOkorie notef that the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 must prioritize justice for consumers while balancing the interests of investors and government.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e\u201cGovernance of the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry requires inclusion of enforcement institutions that shall protect the service providers and consumers alike,\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By \u200eDaniel Adaji \u200e \u200e \u200eThe Electricity Consumers Advocacy Centre (ECAC), a civil society group, has called on the National Assembly to use the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 to&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Electricity Amendment Bill 2025 Must Protect Consumers - CSO - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/electricity-amendment-bill-2025-must-protect-consumers-cso\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Electricity Amendment Bill 2025 Must Protect Consumers - CSO - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By \u200eDaniel Adaji \u200e \u200e \u200eThe Electricity Consumers Advocacy Centre (ECAC), a civil society group, has called on the National Assembly to use the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 to&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/electricity-amendment-bill-2025-must-protect-consumers-cso\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-08T19:56:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Power-sector.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/electricity-amendment-bill-2025-must-protect-consumers-cso\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/electricity-amendment-bill-2025-must-protect-consumers-cso\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"Electricity Amendment Bill 2025 Must Protect Consumers &#8211; 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