<p style="text-align: justify;">The government directive asking consumers yet to be metered not to pay electricity bills is applicable only to Maximum Demand (MD) customers, electricity distribution companies said on Monday. The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) and Ikeja Electric made this known in a statement jointly signed by Heads of their Corporate Communications, Messrs Felix Ofulue and Godwin Idemudia. The companies said that residential consumers were not included in the directive issued by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). They said that the clarification was necessary because of a report claiming that NERC directed all consumers yet to be metered to stop paying electricity bills. &ldquo;We are happy to report that our maximum demand customers have been provided with meters as directed by NERC and are no longer billed by estimation. &ldquo;While we are making concerted efforts to provide meters for all our customers, we will continue to ensure the integrity of our bills and do everything within our mandate to comply with all NERC directives. &ldquo;We, therefore, urge our non-MD customers to please avail themselves of the content of the directive and be rightly guided. &ldquo;Consumers should not misinterpret it to avoid paying for electricity already consumed,&rsquo;&rsquo; they said. NERC, on June 11, directed MD customers not provided with meters to stop paying estimated bills presented by distribution companies. The commission also directed the companies not to disconnect such customers. It advised such customers to report to the commission, if disconnected. NERC said that the directive was to make the companies to effectively execute metering deployment for MD customers.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Source: NAN</p>