Estimated billing is the practice whereby electricity distribution companies guess what a consumer’s electricity consumption should be based on the location of the consumer and the kind of appliances that are in the consumer’s premises.

Many consumers complain about “crazy bills” that they receive from electricity companies. Crazy bills are bills that are given to a customer that do not reflect the correct consumption of that customer. Such crazy bills usually come in the form of estimated bills where the electricity distribution company gives the customer an estimate that far exceeds what that customer could possibly have consumed within the billing period.

Electricity consumers in Nigeria are meant to receive pre-paid meters from electricity companies in order to ensure that they are only billed for what they consume, but the electricity companies have been unable to provide pre-paid meters to many consumers. Some consumers allege that the electricity distribution companies are deliberately refusing to supply consumers with meters so that they can continue over-billing consumers

A member of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has sponsored a bill to criminalise the practice of estimated billing in Nigeria. A publuc hearing on the bill is scheduled to hold on June 5th, 2018.