Fraudulent Dealings: A’Ibom Customers Move Against PHEDC … Call For Prepaid Metres

By UbongAbasi Ise

Electricity consumers in Akwa Ibom State have drawn battle line with Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC, saying they would no longer pay for the power they have not consumed.

At an Electricity Consumers Consultative Meeting held over weekend in Uyo, consumers took their turn to bemoan how they suffer in the hands of the power distributors lamenting that they are made to pay exorbitant, estimated bills that are incommensurable with the electricity provided to them.

Narrating his ordeal, Mr. Solomon John, a resident at Aka Etinan in Uyo, said he inherited the outstanding debt of electricity bill totaling N33,000 at a three-bedroom flat he is currently occupying. He had to clear the debt to give way for a new billing regime but the situation became worse when PHEDC kept increasing the electricity bill steadily from N6,000 to N12,000 within few months, even without power supply.

Again, Solomon said after paying N50,000 for prepaid meter in December last year in response to PHEDC promo, with information that the prepaid meter would be issued out within two weeks, and having been assured that he would no longer be paying estimated bills, Solomon said the PHEDC refused to issue out to him the meter he paid for, while still slamming estimated bills for January and February this year on him, which stood at about N20,000.

Mr. Martin Udo, who stays at Esit Eket, said for about a year now, they are more or less in a state of power blackout but the PHED would be sending them estimated bills. According to him, the company would make them see light for three days, after which they would disconnect for another length of time.

Mr. Udobong Morrison, a customer and a staff of University of Uyo, said he has realized that his monthly electricity bill is higher than his house rent if divided up per month, pointing out how PHEDC would slam about N18,000 on a building occupied by two tenants.

Mr. Kufre Bassey, who is residing at Ibiam Street in Uyo, decried how residential houses in his area are being charged the same as commercial buildings.

Mr. John Ekong from Uyo, said instead of PHED to be reading his electromechanical metre, they would be opting out for estimated billing system which always leaves him to desperately pay for what he has not consumed.

Also speaking at the meeting, Comrade Peter Ekong, a former staff with the PHCN, while reminding the forum that before the privatization on November 1, 2013, all electricity consumers were to be metred within 18 months, stressed how majority of consumers are still being charged with estimated bill asserting that it is a blatant violation of consumers’ rights. Adding to this, Barr. Godwin Idobo, a consumer at the forum, said if the agreement with the Federal Government was to meter all consumers before the takeover, and the rule strictly adhered to, then everybody would have been metered by now.

Barr. Clifford Thomas, who chaired the meeting, revealed that PHED is charging about N9,000 for 24 hours of electricity they cumulatively supply for one month drawing comparison with Enugu Electricity Distribution Company whose highest bill for its customers is pegged at N3,000 per month while at the same time, is supplying electricity for about 16 hours per day.

Thomas referred to the provisions of Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 which mandates the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to ensure an efficiently managed electricity supply industry that meets the yearnings of Nigerians for stable, adequate and safe electricity supply.

As read by Thomas, “all new electricity connections must be done strictly based on metering before connection, and no new customer should be connected by a distribution company without a meter first being installed at the premises.”

Further speaking in line with the NERC guidelines, Barr. Clifford Thomas disclosed that it is the customers’ right to be notified in writing ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the DisCos while encouraging all customers to lodge complaints in writing to PHEDC with the copies sent to NERC.

The human right lawyer noted that it is not the responsibility of electricity customers or community to buy, replace or repair electricity transformers, poles and related equipments used in the supply of electricity other than the power distributor.

However, the electricity consumers at the meeting, had agreed to press for prepaid meter billing regime while seeking the total abandonment of inaccurate estimated billing system that leave them pay for the electricity that has not been supplied to them by PHEDC.

Source: The Sensor Newspaper