The Federal Government has directed the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, (PHCN), to import commercial number of new pre-payment meters for distribution to consumers nationwide.

The importation of the meters is aimed at ending the exploitation of consumers through estimation of their bills as a result of lack of meters.

The importation which is also based on the nation’s inability to produce the facility locally is to be carried out through local and foreign vendors.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi who confirmed the development in a telephone interview said: “It is not the duty of NERC to import the meters. It is the direct responsibility of electricity distribution companies, DISCOs to do so.

He said the commission has already directed them to import the new meters without delay. Investigations showed that the directive followed massive exploitation and complaints of consumers who petitioned the Commission from different parts of the nation.

The exploitation is said to have gotten to its climax when the PHCN stopped the issuance of new meters to consumers in all parts of the nation as well as raise its estimated tariff by over 150 per cent without any explanation.

This, it was learnt compelled consumers who live in two-bedroom flats that used to pay about N5,000 monthly tariff to now pay between N12,000 and N15,000, depending on the policies and practices of the distribution companies, DISCOs.

Consumers who live in three-bedroom flats and duplexes pay between N16, 000 and N20, 000 per month against about N7, 000 they used to pay.

These bills include Value Added Tax and “meter maintenance charge” even though most consumers do not have meters. Industry sources remarked that PHCN officials had purposely stopped the issuance of pre-payment meters after a noticeable drop in revenue as consumers adopted measures to reduce their tariff.

Consequently, many consumers who have been waiting for months to get the new meters after upfront payment are compelled to continue to pay bills estimated based on the so-called “dynamic average” consumption in a particular locality.

For instance, a few days ago, the youths of Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State took to the streets, protesting alleged extortion by the PHCN.

The protest nearly turned violent but for the timely intervention of the police. The youths, who carried placards with various inscriptions, were protesting what they termed illegal billings and extortion by the PHCN officials.

http://nationalmirroronline.net/new/fg-directs-phcn-to-import-prepaid-meters/

Who is paying between N16, 000 and N20, 000 per month against about N7, 000 for three-bedroom flats and duplexes rep. in Nigeria, is it 2 phase?

And why not make it an open market like GSM phones, then PHCN can program it w.r.t. the tariff/billing plans.

ONLY PRE-PAID METERS will make Nigerians use electricity rationally, when they must charge a certain amount of power every month.That way,they learn to switch off their light when they are not using it or they are out of their homes to avoid wasting their power credits. Pre-Paid credit system is also the secret at the core of the success of the telecoms companies. People pay for credits according to their pockets.
So the issue of accumulating heavy monthly phone or electricity bills they cannot pay shall never arise.

Warri _Pikin: ONLY PRE-PAID METERS will make Nigerians use electricity rationally, when they must charge a certain amount of power every month.That way,they learn to switch off their light when they are not using it or they are out of their homes to avoid wasting their power credits. Pre-Paid credit system is also the secret at the core of the success of the telecoms companies. People pay for credits according to their pockets.
So the issue of accumulating heavy monthly phone or electricity bills they cannot pay shall never arise.

Correct talk.u get sense

Reserved for the next president of the federal republic to comment on

That's the right thing to do. They know it but they want to continue to exploit the masses(mi not part of the masses sha). This people should for once do the damn right thing!

Our country is littered all over with corrupt souls, many has joined the numerous nL bandits, shouting GEJ is corrupt, who's fooling who?

2 bedrooms and one living room. One bedroom not in use because living alone.


Lagos opposite VGC


Electrical appliances in the house:

1 horse power ac in the bedroom
1.5 horse power ac in the sitting room
1 small refrigerator
1 microwave
1 television.

leave home 6:30 am and return 8:30 pm every week day. Away out most times on saturdays. Thers hardly ever light.

NEPA (PHCN). Bill every month is 25,000 twenty five thousand naira.

dat prepaid meter is gud in nigeria.....at least we dont need 2 care if nepa on light...its when u card expire that is when u will buy another card

Na electricity dem for just import

This is a welcome move as I can say this report is very true!
I live in Lekki and had to "fight" the NEPA team in that axis to deliver my prepaid meter. They are reluctant to do so since not having it in your place makes them rich.
I actually use electricity with good care and control but my meter went bad and a drama ensued.
I called NEPA immediately and explained what happened only for the bunch of clowns to come to my house to state silly fixed rates based on the profile of my estate & how I needed to pay 125k for a meter. I refused, paid the official rate to the bank and pulled out my monthly bills for 4 months and let them know I would not pay above the average until I get my meter.
After 1 year of calling them every month, they threatened to double my rates and I went to one of their managers and showed him contacts on my phone which I had received to help tidy up the case. I told them to get my meter or receive a call from their head office in Abuja. Two days later, I had my meter. I have still not used above my 12 to 14k per month even when they wanted to pocket 25k per month from me.

There was one Hausa marketing manager (at Agungi office) amongst them who helped me and obviously did not belong to their dirty league. I really praise his much needed example in our decaying ministries.

Not all of us wish to defraud the system; some of us just want to pay our bills & live in peace but PHCN is just frustrating!!! You don't want to find out how dirty and desperately dubious some of their staff can be.

All these Oloriburuku federal govt people. Today they Order, tomorrow Direct, next tomorrow the instruct. At last na wetin con be the result of all these noise? Empty drum. All of una thief no go die better including una family.

PHCH have been robbin nigerian for the decades dis is a welcoming development if d FG is sincere with dis

This issue is really crazy.. We pay as much as 35,000 monthly sometimes.. Recently, they even brought a bill of 74,000!! Imagine?! We had to go query the PHCN divisional manager before it was eventually reduced to about 40 something thousand.. Still absurdly high!! How can d amounts on consumers' bills be guessed? Isn't that tantamout to fraud??

The prepaid meter is ok but the maintenace and tax deduction made it a joke and fraud.

The submissions of the above are nothing but an understatement. PHCN now bills consumers like some demonpossessed entity. They know they should first give everybody the prepaid meter, yet that's the last thing they'll ever do. They'll rather keep talking about it like one mission impossible, while they continue extorting the masses.

Oh dear I pay (as at Dec 2012) #1500 - #1700 at my place at ikorodu road lagos only 4 the next PHCN bill to be hiked to (#5700) in Jan 2013.
I get on the road each morning by 5:30am, I return earliest by 8:30 or 9:00 pm with no explanation other than the power supply has improved over the new year hence the increment in my phcn bill.
Please help is there any one with good contact to call on to help redress this rash billing system.

vanstanzy: That their "FIXED CHARGE" of #500 na wetin dey vex me pass. Am still searching for answers for that amount, what on earth is FIXED CHARGE all about?

Fixed charge is overhead cost...na Where dem come take dey fool us be that. Dem romove maintenance charge

IMPORT PRE-PAY METERS WHEN WE HAVE READY MADE METERS HERE IN OUR FACTORY...ELSEWEDY ELECTRIC METER FACTORY

Since I discovered that PHCN benefit a lot from the over hyped fees, I simply go to the bank and pay 3k or at most 4K. The bills keep increasing and I don't care. When the prepaid meters arrive, I will do the needful and clear my bills.

Nigerians are ready to pay anything so far as they see the power, if with those meters there is still low power supply then what's the use?

a PHCN official tools me the real story about those meters. the meters were made and imported from a country were the electricity supply is constant and at a constant flow rate., in Nigeria, the electricity flow rate is never constant. at a certain level of electricity supply the meter cannot record the flow rate. that means your get electricity that is not recorded our billed for. when your electricity supply is low but can carry your fridge with a stabiliser, the meter would read error. thus,PHCN losses when you use the meter. that is why the prefer your use the old meter and if your use the new meter you are charged maintenance fee which doesn't make sense

also, have you noticed that PHCN hardly ever go round to check the readings of your meter anymore. they give you an estimate and tell your to pay. to counter that, take the last bill that was ever estimated, your new bill and a picture of the readings on meter.your meter must be working. go to PHCN office and demand that your bill be calculated and you are only going to pay what they calculate. you will be shocked by the actual cost of your bill.

When are d successful Private bidders going to completely take over PHCN assets? That's what I want to know. I dont care what d corrupt and inefficient PHCN workers do cos in my mind's eyes they are already GONE. Let d new owners take over and misbehave, let them watch me sue their azzess..

The Pre-paid meter is already in use here in Onitsha and thats what we've been using since 2010 or so! Tho their monthly maintance fee which is #500 every month is awkward but i still gotta say is way more better than the old meter when we use to pay not less than #13000 every month but as of now its just go to phcn pay for ya voucher depending on the level of ya pocket... Which ranges from #800 to above.. And moreover u can switch off ya meter whenever you feel like thus taking control of how you consume your power. We regularly buy #2000 power voucher and it goes way long lasting for atleast 48days or more depending on how much we consume the power and quote me we us this #2000 voucher in a 4room bedroom flat so i see no reason why d old meter is beta than the new.

Phnc realised now that they are not 100% making profit from it as they estimated but ithink is way more applaudable if we nigerians tell them to gv us full service of the new prepaid meter i.e in the case of those that are still yet to subscribe to da new meter platform.

We are introducing wind turbines to generate electricity in Nigeria very soon. The American technology would come in three variants and cspscities; for households including housing estates, for small businesses and entrepreneurs and thirdly, for industries. I assure you that very soon, you will not need to pay exhorbitant bills for electricity u did not use. Our technology is very cheap compared to what u spend on the useless NEPA and what u spend on ur generator. It can serve u between 20 - 30 yrs with very low maintenance with high efficiency. We are working presently with the American company to set up a shop in Nigeria and show Nigerians that electricity is after all not as complex and expensive as they have been told for ages. Watch out!

The present fixed charge system of paying N500 every month no matter your electricity consumption (which could be zero consumption) is a key issue here. It is either fraud: in this case they know it is wrong but do it anyway, or it is non-intelligence: which is shamefully also possible.
The fixed charge should be a percentage in my opinion. That way N50k worth of electricity will attract a reasonable sum and zero consumption or supply will attract zero charge, which is only fair

na today.. whats the use of prepaid meters when there is no light. If there is no network on the gsm fone whats the need of buying recharge card.

Hmmm. Those Nepa officials need a major re-orientation! Bunch of crooks they all are. We were 'forced' to pay a huge amount of money for the new prepaid meter, when we saw the monthly estimated bill was not gonna go down anytime soon. Imagine, being billed at 900 units monthly which roughly translates to an average N13k monthly for epileptic supply of power. Dunno how they arrived at that outrageous estimate.

Now 3 weeks into using the new prepaid meter, I can sum my monthly estimate at just 120 units, which translates roughly to about N1,500 monthly, ACTUAL usage! See the difference, 900 units @ N13k estimate, as against @120 units @ N1,500 actual.

In fact, those thieves ought to be sacked!!!