Nigeria: Discos and Outrageous Bills

Going by reports from across the nation, the high expectation of Nigerian electricity consumers to start enjoying improved services and better power supply as a result of the privatization of the power sector may not manifest soon. Not only is power disappointingly in short supply but the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) and their marketers are allegedly charging the consumers outrageous bills that do not reflect the actual rate of consumption. From Lagos to Maiduguri, Sokoto to Calabar, Port Harcourt to Kano, Abuja to Jos and the rest of the country, the story is not different.

Last week in Lagos, residents of Amuwo-Kuje went on a peaceful protest march to the Agboju Area office of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC). Their grouse was exorbitant electricity bills which they blamed on the marketers’ refusal to read their meters, estimated bills in excess of consumed power, and serving them upfront bills. They also demanded EEDC to provide them with pre-paid meters to ensure that they only pay for power they consume. Residents of Ijesha-Tedo, Ikotun, and Aguda-Surulere also in Lagos have in recent times protested over high tariffs despite the epileptic power supply. Last April, some residents of Uyo the capital of Akwa Ibom State, staged a protest over alleged “uncoordinated and fraudulent charges” meted out to them by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company and demanded for the use of pre-paid meters. In July, 2014, thousands of electricity consumers also protested over outrageous electricity bills charged by the same DISCO.

We are aware that the problem of irregular power supply may not be blamed on the Discos solely since by the power privatization arrangement, the DISCOs can only distribute to the consumers, the power output quota produced by the Generation Companies (GENCOs) and delivered them by the Transmission Company of Nigeria. It is worrisome that in matters within their jurisdiction which electricity consumers continue to complain, the DISCOs across the country have not demonstrated seriousness to resolve the knotty issues traumatizing the electricity consumers in the country. For instance, there are issues with poor customer services, rudeness of marketing staff, and irregularities in the pay system for bills settlement, whereby customers are sometimes disconnected for bills previously settled but not credited to their account.

It is alleged that the DISCOS are deliberately delaying the initiative to provide prepaid meters to their consumers so that they could continue making undue profit by charging them outrageous estimated bills. The same motive accounts for the sharp practice of issuing exorbitant bills to metered consumers even during periods of lower power supply without reading their meters. Denials by the DISCOs are not convincing; for how do we explain the situation whereby they failed to provide meters for customers who had paid for them under the Credit Advance Payment for Metering Implementation scheme (CAPMI). Under the scheme approved by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), willing customers advanced money for purchase and installation of meters to be installed within 45 days by the Discos. The payments were to be subsequently refunded through a rebate on the fixed charge element of the customers’ electricity bills.

According to the Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, “over 50 percent of electricity consumers were not metered and therefore subjected to estimated billings, popularly known as crazy billing in Nigeria.” Since NERC, the regulator of the DISCOs knows this much, why has it refused to compel them to deploy prepaid meters to those who don’t have and stop the fraudulent estimated billing? The Discos should seize the opportunity of the recent Federal Government initiative announced by the Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo to bridge the huge metering gap by rolling out one million meters through the DISCOs to be installed for consumers. We call on NERC to stop glossing over the complaints of the nation’s exploited electricity consumers and sanction any Electricity Distribution Company that seeks to make dubious gain or violates its contractual obligation.

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