It is reassuring that the regime of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) appears resolute in ending the reign of estimated billing in the troubled power sector. With a dreary history of erratic electricity despite enormous sums wasted to revive it, consumers have continued to suffer extortion from the inefficient electricity distribution companies. Paying for electricity in advance helps ensure that consumers do not get into debt with the energy supplier, while the supplier does not fleece them with arbitrary estimates. It also allows customers to manage their energy use and finances better rather than wait for quarterly or monthly bills. The installation of a standard meter should be free.
The regime plans to spend between N269.38 billion and N497.13 billion to provide free prepayment meters to six million unmetered electricity users across the country to bridge the metering gap; a core mandate given to the DisCos upon the power sector privatisation in 2013. In 2018, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission introduced the Meter Asset Provider policy to stop estimated billing and close the metering gap through accelerated meter rollout. But the vacillation over the plan has aggravated the woes of unmetered consumers with the profiteering DisCos laughing all the way to the bank while the regulator looks the other way.
Under the Presidential Mass Metering Initiative, the government is making funds available for the DisCos to roll out one million meters in the first phase, at no cost to consumers, with deployment starting in Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja. It said, “Future plans of this metering initiative will help to fully meet the 6.5 million of meters nationwide and will impact an estimated 30 million consumers. All meters under this programme will be sourced from local manufacturers and in-country stock, to create jobs. We are committed to ending estimated billing in all forms in Nigeria, and ensuring that Nigerians pay only for the electricity they consume.”
Estimated billing generates millions of unmetered consumers for the DisCos to fleece on a monthly basis through ‘crazy’ bills that have no bearing on electricity supplied or consumed. The state-enabled act thrives unhindered because the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has failed to act decisively when its repeated orders to the DisCos to provide pre-paid meters to consumers and end estimated billing were ignored. Sadly, consumers trapped on the arbitrary estimated billing platform pay for outages and disconnections, including irregular supply of electricity, rather than for quality and quantity. This led the House of Representatives to promote a bill, Electricity Power Reform Act (Amendment Bill) 2018, to criminalise estimated billing, which relies essentially on conjectures and randomness.
To achieve the target of ending estimated billing, the government should be prepared to roll up its sleeves, especially as spoilers in the sector would not hesitate throwing a spanner in the works with the usual administrative bottlenecks. The meter distribution should be effectively monitored by NERC to protect it from individuals bent on sustaining the sleaze in the sector. There have been cases of government’s creditable initiatives and projects resulting in slapdash approaches due to shoddy monitoring and handling. For instance, people were discovered to have diverted and sold mosquito nets meant for distribution free of charge to the public under the Federal Government’s Roll Back Malaria initiative. Cases of hoarded palliatives across states meant to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on Nigerians are still fresh with many faulting the sophomoric explanation for the action. Some states said the goods were warehoused in preparation for the second wave of the pandemic in the country even as hungry bellies roamed the streets.
The labour unions and civil society groups should collaborate to monitor the meter distribution, especially as NERC has approved more preferred MAPs. Labour had kicked against electricity hike and thrown its weight behind metering for Nigerians. This is the time for it to be alert to check any abuse of the process by the DisCos. This is crucial, as there are mounting fears that some of the meters are likely being monetised for unwary customers on a cash-and-instal basis.
NERC needs to assert itself as a regulator in both name and performance. It should provide toll-free lines for customer complaints regarding untoward developments associated with the exercise. Given the past frustrating actions of the DisCos in relation to laws and efforts of the government on metering, the commission ought to be focused on revamping a sector that costs the economy $29 billion in losses annually, according to the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan. NERC’s first quarter 2020 industry report stated that registered customers were 10.47 million, while metered customers stood at 4.23 million, leaving a shortfall of 6.24 million. This indicates that only 4.23 million (40.39 per cent) customers were metered since the country’s electricity sector privatisation in 2013.
This is a step in the right direction as it would help create jobs and strengthen genuine efforts to tackle the nation’s unemployment rate, which rose to 23.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2020 from the 23.1 per cent recorded in Q3 2018, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. PPMs will help in avoiding disconnections. It is significant that the Buhari regime encourages local production of the PPMs to execute the initiative. Nigerians deserve energy billing compatible with global standards.
