Regulators order electricity company to refund over 20,000 customers for overbilling

The Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) has ordered MainPower Electricity Distribution Company to refund over 20,000 customers over “wrongful billing” by the company.

MainPower is an electricity company in charge of power supply in Enugu State.

In a public notice released by the EERC on Monday, the commission said the order followed many complaints by MainPower’s customers against the firm’s alleged overbilling.

The notice of the order was jointly signed by the Chairperson of the Regulatory Commission, Chijioke Okonkwo, and the Commissioner in charge of Market Operations, Reuben Okoye.

“Pursuant to Section 35 of the Enugu State Electricity Law 2023 and other extant rules, this is to inform customers in Enugu State that the Commission has issued an order to MainPower to refund the affected customers the overbilled units for energy consumed in April 2025,” the commission said in the notice.

The commission said the list of the affected customers has been published on its website.

It advised the customers who were not refunded at the expiration of the timeframe for the refund to contact the commission through a designated phone number and email address.

Deadline for the refund

According to the notice, the commission said MainPower had been given until July 2025 billing cycle at most to refund the customers. Failure would attract a daily fine of N500,000 until the company complies.

“MainPower shall refund the over-bill to the affected customers within the June 2025 billing cycle but not later than the July 2025 billing cycle.

“Where MainPower fails or neglects to comply with this order, the commission shall invoke its powers under section 32 (5) of the Enugu State Electricity Law 2023, which authorises the Commission to impose a fine not exceeding N500,000 for each day that MainPower may be in default of compliance with this order,” it said.

The commission said the order and the daily fine were in line with the extant law of the Enugu State Electricity Law, 2023.

The commission stated that it started tracking the estimated billing practices of MainPower in October 2024, when it assumed full regulatory control in Enugu State from the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

It said it had complained to MainPower in a letter dated 16th December 2024, but the company allegedly failed to adequately address the complaints in its response dated 14 January.

In another letter dated 4 April, the commission stressed that it further called MainPower’s attention to its continuous estimated billing violations from October 2024 to February 2025.

It added that it demanded a “significant improvement” in the next two billing cycles and that failure would force the commission to commence enforcement action against the company.

“The commission, in its letter to MainPower dated 6th May 2025, called MainPower’s attention to the suspiciously striking similarity between MainPower’s estimated billing reports in February and March 2025 and gave MainPower 14 days from the date of receipt of the letter to provide an explanation, if any.

“The 14 days given to MainPower to respond to the Commission’s letter dated 6th May 2025 expired on 23rd May 2025 without any response from MainPower,” it stated

“The commission recently reviewed MainPower’s April 2025 estimated report and observed that the degree of violation of the caps on estimated billing by MainPower had further deteriorated from the 24 per cent observed in February and March 2025 to 34 per cent in April 2025.”

It said it had “established that MainPower is in deliberate breach of the commission’s stipulations in the terms and conditions of MainPower’s Interim Licence with respect to the capping of estimated billing.”

Background

In October 2024, the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission licensed Mainpower Electricity Distribution Limited to replace the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company in distributing power supply in Enugu State.

This followed the complete transfer of regulatory oversight to the commission by the NERC.

The National Assembly, in 2023, passed 16 constitutional amendment bills, one of which allowed states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

The Enugu State Government, consequently, enacted the Enugu State Electricity Law, 2023, which established the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission, an agency responsible for the distribution and regulation of power in the state.

In June 2024, President Bola Tinubu assented to the electricity bill, which authorises states, companies, and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

In April this year, NERC, a power regulatory agency in Nigeria, began handing Enugu’s commission the regulatory power over the state’s electricity market.

The handover process, which had a six-month transition period, was completed in October 2024.