ELECTRICITY: Paying More Bills for Darkness

Though electricity supply has dropped to an all-time low since the new private investors took over the assets of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Ejiofor Alike writes that consumers are increasingly paying more in tariffs, even without official increase by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC)

Since the private investors took over the generation and distribution companies of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) on November 1, 2013, there is no doubt that there has been a downward slide in electricity generation and supply.

Power supply, which at a certain point during the process of privatisation of the electricity assets peaked at over 4,700 megawatts, has been hovering between 2,500 and 3,500 megawatts in recent months

Both the new asset owners and their customers have acknowledged the drop in electricity supply, which is blamed largely on inadequate supply of gas to the gas-fired power stations.

The Federal Government has also acknowledged the situation, attributing it to vandalism of the gas supply pipelines by saboteurs.

Paying More For Darkness
It is therefore surprising that even though all the distribution companies have acknowledged that power has dropped since the private investors took over, Nigerians are now paying more than when supply was relatively stable.

It appears the trend since the new owners took over is that the more the electricity supply to homes, offices and industries nosedive, the higher the bills customers are asked to pay by some of the 11 distribution companies across the country.
Some of the distribution companies have continued to manipulate exorbitant figures and pass them on as customers’ monthly bills, without reading the meters to determine actual consumption.

This development has continued unchecked since the private investors took over, even when there is no official increase in tariffs by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

Today, there is widespread public discontent against what electricity consumers call “crazy bills”, which they have continued to pay without commensurate service delivery.
Some of the Discos have actually resorted to the indiscriminate allocation of outrageous estimated bills to their customers, instead of reading the meters to determine their actual monthly consumption, contrary to NERC’s guidelines on estimated billings.

NERC’s guidelines stipulate that the “distribution companies shall endeavour to obtain an actual reading of all meters recording electricity usage at all supply addresses within their areas of operations every month, or at such intervals as approved by the commission”.
The guidelines also stipulate that estimated billings shall apply only to customers, who do not have meters or whose meters are non-functional.

According to the guidelines “every DISCO shall endeavour to read the meter, at least, once in three months and the estimated bills issued shall not amount to a figure in excess of the cumulative average of the customer’s consumption.”

But except few customers, who have prepaid meters, majority of others are slammed with outrageous estimated billings monthly by some Discos without recourse to the customers’ actual consumptions as indicated on their meters.

Resident 2 (R2) customers, for example, who consume an average of 180 units monthly at N12.87 per unit when supply is fairly stable, are made to pay estimated bills of between N5,000 and N12,000 monthly by some of the Discos.

The exorbitant bills are far higher than the customers’ actual consumption, which average N3, 066.6, including a fixed charge of N750 monthly.

Source: Thisday