In furtherance of the Nigerian cashless policy and pursuant to its mandate under Section 32(1)(a) of the then Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 (now repealed), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) issued Order no. NERC/183/2019 (the Order).
This Order mandated all electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to transit to cashless settlement platforms for billing/collection of industrial and commercial customers by 31 January 2020 and R3 class of residential customers by 31 March 2020.
The Order further provided that all collection entities engaged by Distribution Companies to comply with the transition to cashless settlement must be registered with NERC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), but did not provide for the registration procedures and requirements.
NERC, in the exercise of its powers in section 226 of the Electricity Act 2023 (EA), issued the Guidelines on Registration and Engagement of Third-Party Collection Service Providers (the Guidelines) on 27 May 2025 to provide a framework for the registration and engagement of third-party collection service providers by DisCos.
In this Newsletter, we review the Guidelines and share our thoughts and recommendations on the key points of the Guidelines.
