Consumers want Abuja to revoke the licence of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) for its inability to serve Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, and for allegedly extorting a captive market.
Sam Amadi, NERC Director GeneralEKEDC has not shaken off the fraudulent billing system inherited from the unbundled Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Lagosians allege.
They say EKEDC has been pilling bills on them since August 2013, even with reduced power supply, raising doubts about its tactics and ability to meet demand.
A retired Army officer, Aboyomi Bombata, who lives on Aghaonu Street, Igbo-Elerin, Lagos sought the withdrawal of the licence of EKEDC as a deterrent to other power companies out to exploit customers.
He said about 90 per cent of customers in his area are either not metered or their meters are not functional.
A leader in Igbo-Elerin central zone, Maazi Okonkwo, said there has been no power supply in the area since late 2012 when it was disconnected from the transformer.
“The funny aspect,” he moaned, “is that we still receive electricity bills monthly. It has been over a year that we were last supplied electricity and yet they bring the bills. This is fraud in broad daylight.”
Another resident added that EKEDC officials do not come to check meters before billing.
“We are just four using the light and we have two rooms each. They brought a bill of N6,000 against about N2,000 in the previous month.
“Because they have seen that we don’t owe on our bills they have concluded that we have the money to pay even if they increase the bill,” he said.
The unbundling of PHCN was completed on November 1, 2013 with the handing over of electricity transmission, generation and distribution to private operators who promised to deliver.
Eleven power distribution and five generation companies, created out of PHCN are regulated by the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC).
Private generating companies are expected to sell directly to distribution companies which supply consumers.
But supply has plummeted since August 2013.
Consumers who are on estimated billing as a result of non-functional meters are worst hit by exaggerated bills.
Households in Igbo-Elerin, Iba, Iyan Ara and other areas of Lagos have been getting intermittent supply since August last year, yet receive monthly bills ranging between N7,133.52 and N8,500 per flat.
The bill is as much as N5,000 monthly for occupiers of single or double rooms.
Power poll released by NOIPolls Limited showed that power supply to households worsened in the fourth quarter of 2013.
About 46 per cent of those polled said they received between one and four hours of continuous power supply daily, while 17 per cent had absolutely “no light”.
NOIPolls disclosed that 45 per cent of Nigerians reported that supply remained bad or had worsened, 33 per cent noted some improvement, and 22 per cent reported no difference in power supply.
October 2013 recorded the highest proportion of respondents (36 per cent) who experienced little improvement, November had the highest proportion of respondents (25 per cent) who did not experience any difference in supply.
Residents of Victory Street are a few of the thousands of consumers in the 11 business units of EKEDC who also complained of outrageous bills at a time when power supply dropped the lowest.
Consumers covered by Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) equally complained about high bills in the face of worsening supply.
Complaints filed by some of them alleged that IKEDC exploit them with estimated billing.
Telephone calls to EKEDC Assistant General Manager (Public Affairs), Godwin Idemudia, were not answered and text messages not returned.
He was, however, recently quoted as saying that “increase in tariff is not in my knowledge at all, it’s not in my company.
“We have tried as much as possible to avoid estimated billing. We don’t have such here. And then again, meters, our project is going on steadily, so we don’t have issues at all in EKEDC.”