Presidential order on high estimated electricity bills

A former governor of the old Kaduna state, Balarabe Musa, has added his voice to those of other Nigerians asking President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately issue a Presidential Order to electricity distribution companies, mandating them without delay to install meters in every home, particularly in cities.
Only recently, Nigerian electricity consumers protested in Benin City, the Edo state capital, at what they call a ‘fix rate’ electricity tariff regime introduced by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC). The protests forced the intervention of Adams Oshiomhole, the state governor. A similar protest followed in some parts of Lagos where the protesters condemned the high estimated bills being sent to the communities by the electricity authorities.
Musa, who spoke with NAIJ.com in a telephone interview, said that if the political will is there for the President Buhari-led federal government to lift countless numbers of Nigerians out of the oppressiveness of estimated billings, a Presidential Order is all that is required to compel electricity distribution authorities to install meters in every home to which they provide services or forfeit their licenses.
According to him, Nigerians who live in small apartments with just two bulbs and a fan are forced to pay up to N2,000 or N3,000 in some instances due to estimated billing, because they cannot afford electricity meters. He said it was a situation that would not be tolerated under any serious government truly concerned with lifting its people out of poverty.
“ I really don’t know what is happening. I am really disappointed at what is happening concerning estimated bill that electricity officials used in extorting Nigerians. Nothing is working presently. Babatunde Fashola, who is the new minister in charge of the power sector, can only do the best he can because when a system is not working even the leaders cannot function very well.
“The system has not change; we can’t see any change, no improvement of anything. It is the system that is not change. The Nigerian leadership is not working because of the system. You must have a working system before talking about effective leadership. Leadership is not primarily the problem but the system. It is the system that created this estimated bill in the first instance. Fashola may want to work and will need money, but the system must help in achieving whatever plan he wants to execute.
“Like I said, the only way out of this oppressive billing method is for government to insist that every house electricity authority provides services for is metered so that people can pay according to consumption. But I understand that the distribution companies are not doing anything about it. They are the ones forcing Nigerians to pay estimated bills because they make money out of ordinary Nigerians that way,” he said.
READ ALSO: Next 365 days: NECA, ARM-HARITH task Buhari on infrastructure
He said that government cannot fully control electricity distribution companies because the sub-sector was privatised by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. He therefore advised that generation and transmission should be left completely in the hands of the federal government, while the government monitors the activities of the distribution companies to avoid Nigerians being unduly exploited.
“ This is the problem of the mindless privatization of the power distribution; and I am afraid, the current government is continuing with it. That is why the government can’t insist Nigerians, irrespective of their social status are billed according to consumption. It would have been better if government controls the generation, distribution and transmission.
“But now that the distribution is no longer in government’s hands, they should ensure that Nigerians are not exploited by these companies. We are not in America and in Europe where there is high sense of moral conduct. If energy is very important to the development of this country, government must have control over energy. Government must play a leading role,” he said.
When NAIJ.com visited some electricity distribution company offices on the Lekki-Ajah axis to speak to electricity consumers who came to pay their bills, it was a tale of bitterness and frustration. Some recounted how hard it had been for them to cope with the ever-increasing estimated bills being sent by electricity distribution companies.
For some, it was not just estimated billing which they said has further impoverished them, but also occupying apartments where huge debts had been accumulated before they moved in, which they are then compelled to pay by officials of electricity companies.
Some of the consumers complained that in spite of taking it upon themselves gradually to offset the inherited debts, since it was the only way to have electricity, officials still blackmail and extort them each month on the grounds that a sufficient amount was not paid to reduced the debt, even though current charges are completely paid. They said consumers in this situation who refuse to bribe officials are constantly threatened with disconnection.
“When we moved into our new apartment, we met electricity debt of about N200, 000. Our neighbours explained to us that it was accumulated bill. Electricity officials continue to bring estimated bills to empty flats when no one was living in these flats for a very long time. Every month we paid double of the bill brought to us to reduce the debt in addition to paying current charges.
“But the officials have continued to harass us with malicious disconnection; even when we tendered evidence of current payment. Whereas there are residents who don’t pay their bills regularly but the officials would usually take bribe of even N500 from them and leave their light. I think Nigeria is about the only country where this kind of oppression thrives.
“President Buhari really need to do something very quickly concerning estimated billing because the oppression is becoming unbearable,” Chris Yisau, a Lagos electricity consumer,” told NAIJ.com.
Some elders in Agbarho, in Ughelli North local government area of Delta state, also complained about the continued billing of the community by the BEDC despite the area having been left in total darkness for the last five months.
Babatunde Fashola
The elders in a telephone interview with NAIJ.com decried the resultant collapse of social economic activities of the people, calling on the appropriate authorities to come to the aid of the community.
“It is over three months ago since we found ourselves in this mess following damaged circle breakers. All appeals by the community to the BEDC to restore power to us have fell on deaf ears. They continue to bring huge bills to us without providing the power for our usage. They have also refused to reply us on when power would be restored to us but continued to bring bills. The economy activities of the community are worsening by the situation,” said Emmanuel Oviri,
John Gbenedio, another Agbaro elder, alleged that electricity officials in the area only permit power for between 20 and 30 minutes in some neighbouring communities when they are going out for marketing in order to extort residents whom he said are desperate to have a power supply even for 10 minutes.

“The BEDC boss in Benin is very stubborn. The woman has simply refused to listen to us. The power is generated at our backyard but they took us to a very far place for distribution. Life has been very frustrating for the people of this community because of the situation. We have exhausted all known avenue to have the problem resolved to no avail,” he said.
Attempts to speak to the BEDC management did not yield meaningful results as Curtis Nwadei, its spokesperson, only responded to calls to his cell phone with “I am in a meeting”. At the time of filing this report he had yet to reply to text messages concerning the matter.
The BEDC, whose corporate headquarters is in Benin, the Edo state capital, is responsible for power distribution to Delta, Ondo, Edo and part of Ekiti state.
Asking Nigerians to exercise a little patience with the Buhari administration, Anslem Ojezua, the chairman of the All Progressives Congress’s Edo state chapter, said the impression that some Nigerians have that the government is slow to react to the situation in the power sector, may be due to the need to fully comprehend what exactly is going on in the sector.
“I am very sure that President Buhari and his team will deal with issue of estimated billing and other negative issues associated with the power sector. But they have to deal with it from an inform level. We cannot address the problem if we do not understand it.