Port Harcourt Electric shocks Senate Committee with staggering revenue losses

Senate Committee on Privatisation led by Ben Bruce practically stepped on naked wires in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, when faced with figures of mounting revenue losses every month in the energy sector.

The senators, who came with officials of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), were shocked to step on a tariff deficit of N170 billion that accumulated since 2014. At the current rate, the electricity company is said to pump power worth N4 billion per month, but recovers less than N1.5 billion worth, losing about N2.5 billion worth monthly.

The lawmakers, who said they were on a nationwide tour of privatised government corporations, found out that the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) was the least in collecting energy bills every month for no fault of theirs, collecting less than 56 percent of energy supplied to the market.

The lawmakers, who endured a 28-slide presentation at the PHED headquarters on Moscow Road in Port Harcourt, were further told the Port Harcourt zone (Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross River) had the highest incidence of energy theft, up to 300 cases daily, where 31 cases were in court.

The Senate was also told about high level of violence in the PHED zone leading to abduction and attack on workers especially workers going to collect revenue or to cut power supply. The company said the region harboured a sense f entitlement over the years and many of the oil communities had enjoyed free electricity in the past 90 years.

It was gathered that refusal by oil and has host communities to pay electricity bill has led to 15 per cent revenue loss to PHED. This is said to have made it unattractive for banks and other investors to grant loans to fund metering project and other capital and operational expenditures.

The company is also said to spend huge votes on security because of the volatile nature of its operating zone. Charts seen by the senate showed that the oil region has the highest percentage (85%) of residential consumers (R2) who pay fewer tariffs while other zones make up from commercial and industrial consumers.

The CEO of 4Power Company (owners of PHED), Mathew Edevbie, told newsmen after the closed door meeting with the senate that Port Harcourt was a peculiar territory in terms of energy business and that hoteliers took the company to the security agencies on suspicion of duping, saying it was due to poor understanding of how bills were calculated from region to region.

He said 90 percent of meters installed in the region are criminally bypassed by consumers. “If we estimate bills, they cry out, if we supply card meters, they say it is running too fast. The problem is that what we sell is not seen or measurable. Many do not see when they consumed N10,000.”

He further said cost was rising steadily while tariff was static. He called for a form of subsidy or scheme to write off the debt overhang. He said the company had managed to move collection rate from 32 percent when they took over in 2014 to 444 percent at the moment.

The CEO said they were very happy for the visit of the senate committee, saying it had afforded them a listening ear. “Nobody wants to hear our side of the matter. Government hates us, the consumers hate us, and we are in the middle.”

He said there is huge hope now that the senate has listened to the PHED and saw the huge difficulties facing the company. Records showed that the company has only 500,000 paying consumers whereas Rivers State alone has a population of over 5 million.

 Speaking to newsmen after listening to PHED, Bruce said he was very sorry for standing against privatization over the years. He said he has studied the process and found that it was very clear and transparent.

The way out now is to listen to the problems in the sector and find peaceful solutions. “The solution is not to attack and kidnap power operators but to seek amicable grounds.”