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Consumers bemoan continued crazy billing

By on March 23, 2014

In spite of promises made by the Federal Government to improve electricity through the recent privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, electricity consumers in the country have continued to complain about poor service.

Beyond that, consumers, particularly those not using prepaid meters,  say they are tired of paying huge estimated light bills.

The consumers accused the private electricity distribution companies of deliberate extortion since many consumers who have paid are still awaiting their meters.

A resident of Ikeja, Olufemi Bamigbade, said he was yet to get a prepaid meter since 2012.

Bamigbade said he pays about N10,000 monthly as electricity bill on his two-bedroom apartment, even though, he does not use heavy electricity appliances.

He said, “I don’t have an air conditioner and my wife and I are hardly at home. Still, I get an estimated bill of about N10,000 every month.

“Meanwhile, I have friends who use prepaid meters and use heavy appliances like air conditioner at home and only spend about N3,000 in two months. It’s so unfair that I pay over three times of that in just one month and I still don’t use AC.”

Another electricity consumer in Ibadan, Bunmi Akano, said she was still awaiting the delivery of her prepaid meter after paying about eight months ago.

Akano added that she had already got tired of making enquiries about the status of her application. She said, “I used to ask about the metering from officials of the electricity companies, but I’ve got tired of doing that now.

“Now, all I do is curse them every time I receive my light bill for the month. Before, the officials used to say it would get to my turn. Later, they told me that metering had been suspended.”

Meanwhile, there are fears among consumers that the DISCOs are planning to scrap prepaid metering in favour of estimated billing. It is also believed that all the while, the DISCOs have been frustrating the release of the prepaid meters because they make more money from consumers through estimated billing.

For instance, a Lagos resident, Aanu Ogundeji, said she had heard from three different people that the DISCOs were planning to scrap prepaid metering.

“I was told that the companies make more money from us through the ridiculous amount they bill some of us every month and that they will be able to recover the money they invested quickly through estimated billing,” she said.

In a recent interview with Saturday PUNCH, the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, said the challenge of providing prepaid meters for every house was daunting.

He said, “We have some meter-manufacturing companies in Nigeria right now and they are producing tens of thousands of meters. But the problem they have is that the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria bought tens of thousands of meters from them without paying.

“They are being owed billions of naira. The metering gap is so huge.  We have about 2.7 million metering gap in Nigeria and no single company can manufacture that within a year. It is not possible. Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has to enforce this rule so that people get to pay accurately. Without using meters, incidence of crazy billing will continue to rise which is not right. That is why we are working very hard to make sure that meters are available.”

Consumers’ Talkback

I was at the Magodo Office of the IKEDC few weeks ago to recharge. I was shocked when I was told to go to the bank to pay and thereafter bring the teller to be able to recharge.

I will recommend that the bank representative should be brought to the IKEDC office for easy transaction or recharge direct from the bank where payments are made. If care is not taken, there will be manipulation of bank tellers.

Better still, mini-offices can be located at some estates like Magodo, Omole 1 &2, River Valley, MKO Abiola Gardens, and others for transactions. It is stressful and time consuming to use the new method of payment to recharge. POS should also be introduced. As a new organisation, you should treat the public better than PHCN. You should also use better means to clear faults and improve on power supply generally.

Yemi Sonaiya, Magodo, Lagos

Residents of Rijiyarlemo Quarters in Dala Local Government Area of Kano State have been without electricity for more than a month but the shameless Kano Electricity Distribution Company officials are still distributing bills and disconnecting our lines. Some of their officials  even collect N200 bribe from consumers. But very soon we would be handing them over to the police. People like me think that constant power supply will never be realised in Nigeria at the pace at which we are going.

Mubarak Anwar, Dala LGA, Kano State

It seems IKEDC has forgotten that there are many businesses here at Jakande Estate that needs power supply to survive. Since December 2013, the irregular power supply has only been coming between 12am and 5am. I really do not understand the rationale behind bringing the light only in the night and it is always for a few hours. IKEDC should find a solution to this. I can confidently say that power supply has worsened in the last few months.

Kenny Adeosu, Jakande Estate, Isolo, Lagos

 

 

[Punch]