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Outrageous Electricity Bills - Consumers Groan As Discos Smile to Banks [opinion](AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WHY would you disconnect my light when I have already paid? Do you know what it means to pay N10,000 for light that I did not even consume? And you have the guts to ask me to pay another money. You even billed us for the pumping machine when you know that we have not had water in this part of Coker Village for almost one year now. If you are in my shoes, will you pay?" a middle-aged woman yelled at the marketing officer attached to the area by Eko Electricity Distribution Company, EKEDC. "Madam, I have told you that nothing on earth will prevent me from bringing down your wire unless the outstanding N7,000 on the your bill is settled," the marketer replied with an air of arrogance as people milled around him to plead their case. "Ok, try it and you will see my other side today! By the way, what gadgets do I have in the house that you should give me such an outrageous bill. I don't blame you," she retorted. It took the intervention of the Service Manager who arrived the scene for frayed nerves to calm down. The woman who was livid with rage, alleged that she paid for a pre-paid meter over five months earlier. She further alleged that the meter has not been supplied because the electricity company wants to continue charging her for unconsumed energy. The Service Manager had to direct the marketer to stop billing the woman for the pumping machine and also to accept the payment she already made. Protests over outrageous bills Electricity consumers in various parts of the country have been groaning under the outrageous electricity bills foisted on them by the distribution companies. In April this year, residents of Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital and its environs, staged a protest over what they described as "uncoordinated and fraudulent charges" meted to electricity consumers since the takeover of electricity generation and distribution by new owners. Besides, the aggrieved protesters called on the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution management to implement the prepaid electricity billing system to avoid frequent clashes with the power distribution officials over questionable bills. In neighbouring Calabar, about 1,200 angry residents last July also protested the outrageous electricity bills by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company. In Lagos, residents of Ijeshatedo and Ikotun at different times, also took to the streets to protest the high tariffs even when power supply in these areas has remained epileptic. A Lagos-based consumer rights activist, Mr Ibenyo Nga, decried what he called heartless extortion visited on the people residing in Aguda Surulere by EKEDC officials in Sanya Undertaking Centre. "Although the staff of EKEDC have been flooding our area (Aguda) with huge bills, in May they took their extortionist tendencies to a most ridiculous extent. They just sat in their offices and allocated unspeakably fat bills to the hapless people in that area, thereby causing a lot of outcry from the people. The arrogance of their staff as people left their work and business places and trooped to their offices to complain about the horribly inflated bills in the face of egregiously dismal services was grossly repelling - like adding salt to an injury; extremely offensive," Nga said. Continuing, he alleged that "they spoke as if the government has handed Nigerians in that area over to them to treat the way they like. Even though many of the people have functional meters, it was clear that they no longer rely on the meters to issue their bills. Relying on meters to issue bills I went there to ascertain what was happening, and when I enquired from one of their workers why they should clamp such huge bills upon the people, she just said that there was some "improvement" in electricity supply in May and so the bills must of necessity go up. When she was asked whether they relied on the meters to achieve the figures in those bills, she just ignored the question and looked away. Her indifference was insufferable. "Now assuming it is true that there were some "improvement" in electricity supply, does that justify the arbitrary allocation of bills to consumers instead of relying on the meter? Is this not a grievous abuse of the business opportunity given to them?" he asked. It's affecting SMEs -LCCI The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, whose members are ripped off by the outrageous electricity bills, joined in calling on the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to urgently address the growing concerns of electricity consumers who are inundated monthly with over-bloated bills. LCCI also called for an urgent review of the concept of fixed charges. President of LCCI, Alhaji Remi Bello, who spoke to newsmen recently, said there is need for NERC to urgently address the growing concerns over the outrageous bills to consumers as most small and medium enterprises, SMEs, spend considerable sum on payment for public power supply. He regretted that oftentimes, these firms don't get the power supply commensurate to payments made. "The power situation is still a major problem for business across all sectors. Energy cost remains a major threat to business sustainability. Expenditure on diesel and other fuels continued to increase. "The power sector privatisation is yet to make the desired impact. Profit margins of firms have been adversely affected. Let me again reiterate our position that the concept of fixed charges should be reviewed as this is an unfair demand on power consumers. Payments should be value- driven to be equitable,"he submitted. Fixed charges attractive A marketing staff of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, who would not want to be identified, told Vanguard Features, VF, that it would be very difficult for the distribution companies to stop giving consumers fixed charges. According to her, that (fixed charges) is the only way the companies can take care of the lost energy. She explained that after billing those with functional meters, the excess or lost energy is distributed to consumers with non-functioning meters. "It is such consumers that pay for the unaccounted energy," the former PHCN staff said. NERC reacts Reacting to the outrageous bills handed to consumers by the distribution firms, the Director of Engineering and Safety Regulations in NERC, Mr Abdullahi Mohammed, explained that crazy bills and estimated billing are some of the problems which the Commission is trying to find solutions to. Mohammed who represented the Chairman/ CEO of the Commission, Dr Sam Amadi at the 6th Distinguished Annual Lecture of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, NIQS in Lagos, stated that not satisfied with the billing method adopted by the DISCOs, the Commission has developed an estimated billing methodology that should be applied in estimating bills where the customer does not have a functional meter. According to him, the billing methodology will check the arbitrariness in billings and ensure that fairness and transparency are adhered to by the marketers. Mohammed stated that any DISCO that fails to conform with the new methodology will be penalised. "We started it with ourselves at the Commission's headquarters in Abuja when we noticed that we were being given arbitrary bills. We conducted a hearing on it and the distribution company was made to refund the excess charges," he said. He enjoined consumers to always bring their complaints to the Commission, promising that such would be looked into. Mohammed disclosed that the Commission has put in place three layers of addressing complaints brought by consumers. Consumers complaints "There is a mechanism for redressing consumers' complaints. If the DISCOs refuse to attend to you, we have a Forum office which attends to consumers complaints. If you are not satisfied with their decision, write to the Commission and I want to assure you that we don't take such complaints lightly," he said. On the allegation that the distribution companies charge N750 monthly for meter maintenance when such meters are rarely serviced, Mohammed informed that the N750 monthly fixed charge is not for servicing meters as meter maintenance fee has been abolished. The fixed charge, according to him, is a component of the tariff that enables the investor to recoup his investments. We have a programme to replace obsolete meters - EKEDC Eko Electricity Distribution Company which is in the eye of the storm for allegedly ripping off its consumers through outrageous fixed billings, has however denied the allegation. The Company's Assistant General Manager, AGM Public Affairs, Mr Godwin Idemudia, told VF that such allegations were unfounded. He debunked claims by consumers in the Sanya and Orile Distribution Centres that they have been placed permanently on fixed charges, hence they are now at the mercy of Shylock marketers who unjustly allocate huge amounts of money to them monthly. Idemudia explained that any consumer who feels short-changed should forward his bills to the company's complaints unit. "We have a programme to replace obsolete meters. While this is going on, a meter that is functioning will not be estimated. If your meter is functioning and you are given estimated bills, you should bring your complaints to us for it to be redressed," he assured. On the allegation that some marketers are rude to consumers, Idemudia said such employees would be dismissed if found guilty. "What you just need is to try and get the name or GSM number of such staff and call us. We have zero tolerance for such bad behaviour. We are now a private sector company and it can no longer be business as usual. We will investigate such complaints within 48 hours and if it is true, the staff concerned will be fired instantly," he said. Payment for prepaid meters When told that some consumers alleged that they paid for pre-paid meter for over five months now but have not been issued with one, the Eko Disco image maker advised such individuals with genuine receipts of payment to furnish their particulars to the company and their meters will be promptly replaced. He stated that it is the responsibility of landlords to clear outstanding electricity bills before letting their property to a new tenant. "If he (landlord) fails to do so, the burden of payment will be transferred to the tenant. But we can have a written agreement with the tenant on how to offset the bills," he said. Why we have not rolled out prepaid meters Idemudia's explanations seem to be at variance with that of his Vice President, Legal, Mrs Wola Ojoye. Mrs Ojoye was reported to have blamed the delay in rolling out the prepaid meters to consumers on the fear of bye-pass of its meters. Mrs. Ojoye, who spoke during a courtesy visit by members of the Consumer Rights Advancement Organisation, CRADO, led by Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo to the EKEDC corporate headquarters in Marina, Lagos, said that bye-passing of payment for electricity consumed was evident mostly with prepaid meters. She said this fear has been responsible for the company's inability to distribute the 9,000 prepaid meters it inherited from the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, when it took over on November 1, 2013, adding that these meters go into negative after consumption of electricity already paid for by the consumers. She said the company was prepared to partner with manufacturers of best quality prepaid meters that would not be bye-passed by its consumers, stressing that whether such meters were locally made or imported was not the issue. Ojoye said EKEDC has a plan to roll out meters next January, noting that the plan has already been forwarded to the electricity sector regulators, NERC, in Abuja for their approval. She said the company met big problems when it took over, stressing that what EKEDC met was not what it was told. Asked whether EKEDC did not avail itself of the due diligence which all the DISCOs were given opportunities to undertake, she said their officials were prevented from doing so by the electricity workers union. She said the union leaders refused to allow them to access facilities of the defunct PHCN. While stressing that the company was not interested in forwarding estimated bills to its consumers, Ojoye said it was automating the billing process because estimated billing was not profitable to the company. Copyright Vanguard. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |