It’s illegal for the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to disconnect your electricity supply without issuing you with 10 days notice.
Unlike what many electrify users may think, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory commission (NERC) have no legal right to disconnect any user’s electricity connection at will or whenever they choose for any offense whatsoever without given prior notice of at least 10 days to the electricity user, Neither does any electricity distribution company (disco) like Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Eko Electricity Distribution and their cohorts have the power to disconnect any users light without following the due process provided by law.
The extant law regulating the procedures for connection and disconnection of electricity supply currently in Nigeria is the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Connection and Disconnection Procedures for Electricity Services, 2007. This is the law that laid down the guidelines that electricity providers and distribution companies (Disco) must follow while connecting or disconnecting any user’s electricity supply in-order for them not to be breaking any law or deemed to be carrying out an illegal act.
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According to this law, before a staff of electricity company or electricity distribution company can disconnect any customer’s electricity supply, 10 days notice must first be issued to the customer and when the electricity official disconnects a customers light, they shall leave a written notice on the customer’s premises advising the customer what to do to get the electricity supply reconnected.
This written notice must contain; the date of the disconnection, the reason for the disconnection, what the customer should do to get his electricity supply reconnected and the contact details of the electricity officials that disconnected the electricity supply in case the customer wants to contact them.
By law, when an electricity distribution company disconnects a customer’s light without following the due process stipulated by law like issuing a 10 days notice to the customer, the customer can sue the electricity company and damages will be awarded against the distribution company for illegal disconnection and illegal tampering of a customer’s electricity supply.
