The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) recently directed electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) nation-wide to deliver pre-paid metres to customers who have paid for them within 45 days. Under the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme, electricity consumers who voluntarily pay for their metres get rebate on their energy purchases in return.
But, for reasons which the DISCOs have been unable to clearly explain, many electricity customers who paid for metres are yet to get them. The widespread complaints of consumers apparently forced NERC to embark on a nation-wide fact-finding tour to assess the operation of the scheme. The commission also set the 45-day deadline beyond which a DISCO must not continue to deny customers of metres, after payment.
Pre-paid metres enable electricity companies to supply only electricity that has been paid for. No better arrangement could have been devised to address the reluctance of some consumers to pay for electricity in Nigeria. On the consumers’ part, the metres enable them to control their use of electricity, to buy and use electricity only according to their financial capability.
For many months now, the uproar over “estimated” electricity bills slammed on consumers who do not have pre-paid metres, has been at a crescendo, with some enraged consumers beginning to threaten violence against officials of the DISCOs. Disputes over electricity bills are as old as the history of electricity in Nigeria. Even in the days of the old Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) in the 1960s and 1970s, and the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in the 1980s and 1990s, consumers were always uncomfortable with bills that were not based on the concrete facts of electricity supplied, which “estimated” bills tend to be.
Today, consumers who use pre-paid metres appear happier with the services of the DISCOs so far, whereas the customers who have no metres, who receive and pay “estimated bills”, seem to complain the most.
It is a brave new world in the power sector; it is the age of electronics, the digital age, the age of instantaneous information and calculation. The DISCOs also know this. And, that is why we are surprised that they seem to be keener on issuing “estimated bills” to consumers, than supplying metres which will enable them to supply only electricity that has been paid for. This inability of the DISCOs to supply pre-paid metres to interested consumers is strange, indeed. In this digital age, the distribution companies should not have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, before they employ tools of the digital age, such as pre-paid metres, in their business.
The pre-paid metre saves electricity companies a lot of work and costs. No longer do they need an army of representatives to go round to read metres in order to compute customers’ bills for the month. Before the introduction of pre-paid metres, the distribution company would have to send a crew to climb the pole to disconnect wires to cut off supply to a customer who defaulted in payment. When the customer finally straightens his account, officials of the electricity company will go through the same tedious process of climbing up the pole again to re-connect the wires and the customer to power supply. We, therefore, see no good reason why DISCOs should continue to resist the universal supply and use of these metres.
The metres, among other things, help customers to have a proper sense of their electricity consumption as opposed to “estimated” bills. Estimated bills often look unreal, like a fabrication, and worse, consumers feel like they are being swindled. Nigerians are dying to have regular electricity supply, but they also need to be treated like customers by the DISCOs, to win their confidence and trust.
It is bad enough not to provide metres for all consumers. It is simply outrageous and unacceptable to deny a consumer the metre he has paid for under the CAPMI scheme. Thus, the NERC is justified in setting the 45-day deadline for DISCOs to install such metres after payment. NERC has, by this action, proved itself a great mediator between the DISCOs and consumers. It has also demonstrated commendable sensitivity to the needs of both.
More importantly, the DISCOs should appreciate that it is in their interest to put a lie to the allegation that they are deliberately withholding the supply of metres so that they can continue issuing “crazy” bills to their customers. Those making these allegations are mostly customers who receive “estimated bills”.
We urge the DISCOs to make the universal provision of pre-paid metres a priority to reduce areas of discord between them and Nigerian electricity consumers.
