Electricity Bills: Government reads Riot Act to PHCN Successor Companies on “Crazy Billing”

In a move certain to appease electricity consumers across the country, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has blamed PHCN successor company officials of over-billing customers on electricity usage by deliberately frustrating proper meter usage.

The age-long practice inherited by PHCN successor company workers from PHCN works by the official estimating the consumption utilized by consumers instead of charging for actual consumption indicated in the meter. By not providing working meters or ignoring readings in properly installed meters, electricity officials under pressure from superiors to meet certain revenue targets, take the liberty of charging customers arbitrary bills that only serve to enrich a few and impoverish the majority.

NERC has taken the liberty of calling the successor companies to order, at a meeting with their CEO’s in Abuja.

Sam Amadi, Chairman NERC, said, “We have cases of people who pay even more than companies for residential houses. Even though they have meters, the distribution companies do not go and read the meters.

“I see no reason why somebody living in a three-bedroom flat will be paying N3,000 a month and another in similar flat and with similar appliances will be paying N30,000. That is what we call crazy billing. It is cheating.”

“We are going to go round to inspect the distribution companies to access how much improvement they have made in terms of metering, and if you cannot meter everybody; we expect you should come up with a standardised framework for billing.”

Speaking on the looming rise in Electricity Tarriffs scheduled to commence on June 1^st, the Chairman cautioned the companies on taking a profiteer approach to charging customers.

He said, “This is not a windfall tariff. The tariff is focused on fostering competition, which will inevitably lead to bigger capacity. The focus is to give the distribution companies marked improvement in service delivery.

“Even after June 1, when the MYTO-2 tariff will officially commence; no distribution company will collect one dime except they receive a certification from us. That means there are conditions that must be met before the new tariff can be implemented, and one is metering.”