THE much touted improvement in electric power supply has yet to come but the utility organisation, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), is planning massive increases in electricity tariffs. By the time the Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) concludes what it called consultations with all the stakeholders, electricity consumers will pay between 50 and 100 per cent increase over and above subsisting tariff. Perhaps it should be mentioned that many consumers have described the current tariff regime as choking and exploitative, particularly against the backdrop of poor services.

IN a communique issued at the end of its two-day workshop with the 11 PHCN distribution companies in Abuja on April 13, 2011, NERC decried the passing of unauthorised and illegal charges to consumers and advised its discontinuance. Prominent among the illegal charges are Meter maintenance and meter replacement and installation charges.

PERHAPS the most burdensome of the illegal charges is the meter maintenance charge. Not a few customers find this charge very offensive, because unlike the meter replacement and installation charge, which is one off, meter maintenance is charged monthly and it is quite significant. For instance, a consumer using 3-phase pre-paid meter gets energy of N2,800 only if he pays N4,500 to PHCN under the existing tariff structure. The balance of N1,700 is deducted as charges.

About N1,300 of this sum is attributed to monthly meter maintenance charge! This has been the practice since pre-paid meter was introduced even though PHCN does not maintain any meter. It was, therefore, a much needed elixir for consumers who were already suffocating when NERC declared those charges as unjustifiable, illegal and ordered that they be discontinued.

OVER five months after the seemingly unequivocal directive from the regulatory body for the stoppage of the illegal charges, the PHCN is yet to stop. Ironically, at one of the PHCN distribution offices in Ibadan, an official of the company claimed that NERC gave them the authority to apply those charges and, indeed, specified the amounts to be charged. An official memo allegedly originating from NERC supporting the official’s assertion was displayed at the customer care section of the PHCN office. Could it be that NERC simply chose to condemn the illegal and unjustifiable charges in the public just to tell the consumers what they would like to hear?

WHETHER or not the PHCN has the tacit approval of NERC to continue to rip off consumers under the guise of meter maintenance charge, the fact is that the charge is unreasonable and unwarranted. The PHCN does not maintain any meter. It is, therefore, immoral, unconscionable, and fraudulent of the utility organisation to charge for services it does not render. And it is annoying and insulting to the sensibilities of Nigerians that these illegal charges, including meter maintenance charge, have been reportedly factored into the subsisting Multi-Year-Tariff-Order (MYTO). Yet, the PHCN is still charging consumers specifically for it. The implication is that electricity consumers are being charged twice for a service not rendered. This is not acceptable.

IS it not curious that PHCN even charges the monthly meter maintenance fee whether or not a customer uses electricity in a month? Indeed, a PHCN official in Ibadan confirmed that if a consumer travels out of the country for, say, six months and shuts down power supply to his premises for the period, the company will still charge meter maintenance fee for the six months. It is that bad.

IF the much touted power/energy reform programme is to succeed, the PHCN must be structured and monitored to operate in an efficient and transparent manner. The PHCN, clearly, is yet to purge itself of the inefficient, extortionist, and rent seeking monopolistic indulgence of its predecessor, National Electric Power Authority (NEPA).

FOR starters, NERC should promptly look into the allegation of collection of illegal fees, especially the meter maintenance charge. The regulatory agency should rein in this illegality, very timely, if it is to be trusted with critical roles in the ongoing reform programme in the power/energy sector.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/editorial/28817-phcns-illegal-charges

The increase is a 100% cos they gave us light over the weekend and brought an outrageous bill on monday for us to pay!