Excitement, criticism trail Ikeja Disco over prepaid meters

After more than two years of hoping and waiting, residents of some parts of Ikotun, in Alimosho area of Lagos, were pleasantly surprised, last week, to see ladder carrying technicians engaged by Ikeja Electricity (IE), one of the two electricity distribution companies (Disco) in Lagos, hit their streets.

Finally, the prepaid meters! For most of the residents, it had been long coming and hope had fizzled away. Complaints of ‘crazy’ bills had been rife, with the electricity firm seemingly turned deaf ears. With between N7,000 and N21,000 sent as monthly electricity bills to homes amidst poor power supply, angry residents, in protest, had withheld payment, leading to millions of naira unpaid bills with IE at the receiving end.

As a smart way of dealing with the situation, IE, in August this year, offered to cut customers’ unpaid bills by between 10 and 20 per cent to 20 depending on the amount owed. The initiative, according to the Disco, was designed for unmetered non-maximum demand customers, to provide an avenue to support customers, given the ‘nation’s economic realities’.

According to Felix Ofulue, head, corporate communications, IE, under the initiative, three-tier scheme provides a 10 per cent discount for customers who owe between N50,000 and N100,000; 15 per cent discount for those owing above N100,000 but less than N200,000, and 20 per cent discount for customers who owe above N200,000.

“Interested customers are encouraged to visit the customer care representatives situated at service centres, undertakings or business units closest to them for more de- tails with regard to their application,” Ofulue, said during the offer. But notwithstanding the debt cut, some electricity consumers would rather have the Disco disconnect them than pay huge bills with no assurances of improved power sup- ply, arguing that the solution was metering. “I was aware of the offer to cut accumu- lated debts by 10 or 20 per cent, but I wasn’t moved by that.

I have always believed that the solution to ‘crazy’ or accumulated debts is to give customers meters so that they can be billed based on what they consumed,” said Samuel Egwuatu, a residents of Governor’s Road, Ikotun, who welcomed the decision of the Disco to finally share meters in the area. Foluke Adams, a resident of John Akpati Street, also in Ikotun, and a beneficiary of the prepaid meters in the street, said the 20 per cent cut offered by the Disco still amounted to cheating customers. She argued that there could not have been accumulated of debts if there was no ‘crazy’ and estimated billing of customers.

“You can’t send an unjustified bill to a customer and after it has accumulated, you then turn around to offer him/her 10 per cent or 20 per cent discount. The right thing to have done from the start was to give customers meters,” said Adams.

She said although the technicians from Gestric Limited, an indigenous engineering firm contracted by Ikeja District to install the meters supplied by Huawei, were requesting customers in the area to part with N9,000, which they claimed was the cost of cable, she was ready to pay and have the meter, in order to free her household from the two years of exploitation the electricity company.

Meanwhile, Ofulue, IE’s spokesperson, said the installation of the prepaid meters was a continuous exercise and was being implemented in phases. Ofulue said customers in areas within the Disco’s operations, yet to have the meters only needed to exercise patience, as the company is working to take it round.

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Com- mission (NERC) recently disclosed that over four million electricity consumers in the country were awaiting prepaid meters. Anthony Aka, the acting chairman of NERC, however, explained that unavailability of meter manufacturing companies was hindering maximum provision of meters to Nigerians. He warned that the commission would sanction any Disco which failed to comply with directives on the distribution of prepaid meters, stressing that any customer who paid for a meter should have it within 60 days of payment.