Electricity consumers who bypass their meters will be forced to pay up to N450,000 as fine, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has declared.According to NERC, financial sanctions ranging from N50,000 to N450,000 for meter bypass by power consumers have been drafted by it and have been endorsed by the 11 electricity distribution companies operating in the country.

It was gathered that NERC’s decision was also endorsed by the Federal Government through the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

This is coming as the regulator revealed that it was perfecting plans to deploy prepaid meters in government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies in order to avert future debt accumulation by the MDAs.

The Vice Chairman, NERC, Sanusi Garba, while speaking on the prepaid meter issues raised in the zone of the Jos Electricity Distribution Company, told Fashola and other participants at the last monthly meeting of operators in the sector that the amount being charged as financial sanctions depended on the class of power consumer.

Fashola advised NERC to be more accommodating during consultation and “advised the commission to place the highest level of sanctions on meter bypass to deter customers from such act.”

“He (Fashola) advised the Discos to prosecute offenders at the municipal level by liaising with the respective state governments,” it added.