Dear Sir/ma,
My name is ..........., I wish to bring to your notice the stressful procedure in applying for a prepaid meter under the CAPMI
scheme with BEDC.

I fall under the Ugbowo Business District in Benin City, Edo State.The district office address is located in Textile Mill road in benin
city.

To acquire a meter, one has to go to the district office to get a form with 2 parts, one part to be filled by the applicant & the other by
the service engineer.

This implies that after getting this form, I have to go back to the BEDC in my locality to look for my service engineer to fill his part.

After filling the form, one has to go back to the district office to submit the form & another form will be given, this time one is required to fill & have it stamped by an electrical contractor(LECAN), to get this form stamped, one has to pay between N3,000-N5,000 to the
electrical contractor, this amount depends on your bargaining power.

You will then take back this stamped form to the district office to submit it & you will be informed to expect a call, in order for you to
pick a computer generated paper/invoice go make payments in the bank, it takes time for you to be called. Some were called after 1week, some after 4days

There was a case of a lady who was called after days to come pick this paper, she got to the bank only to be told, that the numbers were
wrong, she had to go back to the office for rectification.

When one is done making successful payment, the receipt is then presented to the district office & you are told that, one will be informed when the meter is avaliable(God knows when that will be).

[b]
Please sir, in this 21st century with all technology at our disposal why does BEDC have to put resisdent through such stressful process?

Why can't i get the form in BEDC office in my locality? Why do I have to go all the way to the district office? Only to come back to my
local BEDC office to get my service engineer?

The idea of looking for one's service engineer & an electrical contractor encourages the "man know man factor", "extortion" & "racketeering"!!

What is my bussiness with an electrical contractor as an individual seeking to have a meter in my house?

Why do I have to PAY to get my form stamped when it is the responsibility of BEDC to provide meters in the first place?

Why can't BEDC ask applicants to raise a draft in their favour or go pay into a designated bank account or pay in their office (after all
post paid bills/pre paid vouchers are being paid in their office)?

Why does one have to wait for days for an invoice or paper to be generated before payments can be made?

Lastly, the ugbowo business district office located at textile mill, have ONLY ONE customer complaint Rep, which is not enough considering
the crowd that is always there to make complaints/enquiries. The Rep is usually very cold, blunt & unprofessional in his approach.

[/b]
BEDC is ignoring Benin City resident meter readings & giving crazy bills/estimated bills, at the same time making it difficult for us to
also get prepaid meters with ease. Isn't this wickedness, bad business practice & outright disregard for laid down laws/procedures.

I am a strong believer that the pen is mightier than the sword & I want to believe that NERC will do something about this time
wasting/frustrating process

Thanks
............

Ok

The above letter was sent to BEDC, NERC was put in copy, the south-south NERC was also put in copy, it's been 3weeks, no acknowledgement from them or change in the procedure.

CAPMI was a scheme setup for individuals to advance payment for prepaid meters, the disco are to pay back that money over a period of 36months via discounted vouchers I.e at the point of purchasing units for your meters, there is a discount

It is the sole responsibility of the disco's to supply meters at no cost but because they are lagging behind, NERC came up with CAPMI, yet there is no change.

A single phase meter cost N39,000 in benin, after gòing thru the stress of registering & making payment, one has to wait for donkey years before getting the meter.

Those using post paid meters in benin are no longer being charged based on their readings but via estimated billing.

Yet BEDC doesn't want to provide prepaid meters

There is no light yet, an outrageous bill awaits you at the end of the month.

If you go make complaints, nothing will be done

Yet, NERC says your complaints ought to be resolved within 15days!

NERC also says after making payments for prepaid meters, within 45days, DIsco's should provide the meter & if after 60 days, no meter is provided, then the consumer shouldn't be billed

All these are grossly disobeyed yet no sanction

Is NERC toothless or there is a clause in the MOU between the power firm & nigeria, that bars them from being sanctioned ??

I will appreciate if this can grace the FrontPage to get a wider audience, maybe then it will get to the relevant person

CC:Mynd44's

topics like this will not make fribtpage, if it's snake or breastt, it will make it fast

it's been 2months since i made complaints at their office & there has been no changes. I have working post paid meter, but they ignore my readings & give me estimated billing

they insist I must clear the bill b4 I can start processing my application for pre paid meter.