jmoore:

Late comers! Common sense should have told you the poster modified his post.

Early cumers, i dan correct myself tei tei

You need to go see your landlord and sort out the arrears built in the meter, for every 1,000 naira you recharge, you will get token worth 400 naira. Which means you're paying for someone's debt. That's why it's advisable before moving into an apartment, you need to check if there's arrears built in the meter and sort it out with the landlord at once.

Welcome to renewed shege

How is there a debt on prepaid meter, why is it called prepaid?
Does Nepa give light to Prepaid meters on credit?

Which area do you live that has 23-24hrs light on Lagos?

It baffles me seriously for someone to have stayed in an apartment for close to 2years and not know the current situation of his meter .
Op, are u keeping some information away from us ?let's just say u started paying your bill on the meter recently and discovered u have been short-changed as a result of the debt on the metre(65k) and u made payment of 7k recharge, and u r meant to pay 60% of the debt on every recharge , so u left with almost 3k worth of units to use in space of 2weeks. Considering the fact that there's constant power supply in your region .
Iron out this issue of accumulated debt with your landlord to ascertain where it came from,if only u so sure it wasn't u that accumulated such amount but refused to give us a full detail insight of how u stayed in a house for almost 2years and not aware of it.

ChybuzzDD:


None of you were able to address his main issue.

If it were you, would you be happy paying for debts you didn't incur??

@OP: It's the duty of the landlord to offset the debts incurred by his previous tenants.

Liaise with him on the best way to follow it.
One of the ways involves substracting the total expenses you incur in 1yr from the next annual rent.
It is not your responsibility to pay the debts and should never accept that.

Do people with meter enjoy light without first buying it? How did they owe when you must pay before seeing light

Kirchoffs:
I stay alone in a room and parlor self contain here in Lagos , although we have constant light, I have been in this area for less than 2year and light is at least 23-24 hrs per day.

I use 7000 naira to buy Nepa units on the 28th June and it’s finished already today being 12th of July, note that I don’t use anything that draws power in my house .

UPDATE!!!!

So I went to Nepa office today and I was told that there is a debt of 65k on the prepaid meter, each time I recharge Nepa takes off 60% from me for the debt settlement.

Now my question is, am I supposed to be paying a debt I don’t owe or is this the duty of the landlord.

You Inherited a liability because you didn't asked your landlord and agent when getting that property.
Your DISCO Is even cheep at 2800 Naira for 23 hour everyday for 14 days because 4800 is the liability you Inherited on every recharge of 7000 Naira.

ahnie:

And our families too oniovo

oza doh

Your land carried the meter on credit, in some instances they allow users to carry the meter on half payment while they reduct the remaining 50% gradually from the recharge .

It happened to me in my former apartment, I realized it

O.P , just go and meet EDC workers, let them come to your apartment and remove the prepaid there , so you can buy another new one or find a way to push it to the landlord so he will invite them and let them know how much they will wave out for your landlord while you and your landlord will come together and discuss further.....

Face your landlord squarely and make sure you have a better solution...

gaby:


It will favor us.....

Amen... . I like the way Nigerians say this prayer every time.

Instead of the mockery "as e dey pain dem e dey sweet us".

jmoore:

Landlord will tie a tenant with rope and force him to pay energy bill? I would like to know NERC stand on this issue.

Stop it now. Are u serious or playing

davidtemi:

Stop it now. Are u serious or playing

I am serious. Some tenants are stubborn, some of them pack out without completing their rent.

Kirchoffs:
I stay alone in a room and parlor self contain here in Lagos , although we have constant light, I have been in this area for less than 2year and light is at least 23-24 hrs per day.

I use 7000 naira to buy Nepa units on the 28th June and it’s finished already today being 12th of July, note that I don’t use anything that draws power in my house .

UPDATE!!!!

So I went to Nepa office today and I was told that there is a debt of 65k on the prepaid meter, each time I recharge Nepa takes off 60% from me for the debt settlement.

Now my question is, am I supposed to be paying a debt I don’t owe or is this the duty of the landlord.

Are U the only person using the prepaid meter?

This must be one of the "this administration will favour me and my family"
Ndị ara.
This is yet early morning 😀😀

quote author=Kirchoffs post=124390504]I stay alone in a room and parlor self contain here in Lagos , although we have constant light, I have been in this area for less than 2year and light is at least 23-24 hrs per day.

I use 7000 naira to buy Nepa units on the 28th June and it’s finished already today being 12th of July, note that I don’t use anything that draws power in my house .

UPDATE!!!!

So I went to Nepa office today and I was told that there is a debt of 65k on the prepaid meter, each time I recharge Nepa takes off 60% from me for the debt settlement.

Now my question is, am I supposed to be paying a debt I don’t owe or is this the duty of the landlord. [/quote]

Kirchoffs:
I stay alone in a room and parlor self contain here in Lagos , although we have constant light, I have been in this area for less than 2year and light is at least 23-24 hrs per day.

I use 7000 naira to buy Nepa units on the 28th June and it’s finished already today being 12th of July, note that I don’t use anything that draws power in my house .

UPDATE!!!!

So I went to Nepa office today and I was told that there is a debt of 65k on the prepaid meter, each time I recharge Nepa takes off 60% from me for the debt settlement.

Now my question is, am I supposed to be paying a debt I don’t owe or is this the duty of the landlord.

No go fight with your landlord cos of this..

Just sit with him and discuss...

Those power companies are crooks they always claim people are owing them.

Were for Lagos wey u dey live?

I'm asking cos of the steady light..

ceejay80s:

Are U the only person using the prepaid meter?

Yes I am

Talk to your landlord about your findings concerning the 65k electricity bill and how NEPA has been deducting this bill from your prepaid credit.

You may now politely tell him that you want him to give you a credit for the amount you have paid towards the bill as a credit for your next rental payment.

@kirchoffs

Psady:
It baffles me seriously for someone to have stayed in an apartment for close to 2years and not know the current situation of his meter .
Op, are u keeping some information away from us ?let's just say u started paying your bill on the meter recently and discovered u have been short-changed as a result of the debt on the metre(65k) and u made payment of 7k recharge, and u r meant to pay 60% of the debt on every recharge , so u left with almost 3k worth of units to use in space of 2weeks. Considering the fact that there's constant power supply in your region .
Iron out this issue of accumulated debt with your landlord to ascertain where it came from,if only u so sure it wasn't u that accumulated such amount but refused to give us a full detail insight of how u stayed in a house for almost 2years and not aware of it.

To be factual, I had always known something was wrong but didn’t always go and make any complaints cos am always busy. Also the light bill was always sorted out by my guy until he traveled out early this year. He told me landlord refused to pay anything on the meter while he was alaive

ChybuzzDD:


None of you were able to address his main issue.

If it were you, would you be happy paying for debts you didn't incur??

@OP: It's the duty of the landlord to offset the debts incurred by his previous tenants.

Liaise with him on the best way to follow it.
One of the ways involves substracting the total expenses you incur in 1yr from the next annual rent.
It is not your responsibility to pay the debts and should never accept that.

Have a similar situation at hand, we discovered
that an old debt was pass on to the meter.

For the sake of our sanity and wellbeing, we just decided to recharging and PHCN are deducting thier dues.

The old debt is over 600k

When it's time to renew the rent, we will discuss this issue with the landlord

oweniwe:


Switch to rechargeable fans and lights

What do you use to recharge them?

KingGeedorah:


Have a similar situation at hand, we discovered
that an old debt was pass on to the meter.

For the sake of our sanity and wellbeing, we just decided to recharging and PHCN are deducting thier dues.

The old debt is over 600k

When it's time to renew the rent, we will discuss this issue with the landlord

Raise it now so that it will be on record.

@Op, confront your Landlord about your findings and hear what he has to say about it. Try to reach an agreement whereby whatever debt you pay should be subtract from your annual rent (even if it's 50% because he may not likely agree to a 100%).

As a word of advice for accomodation seekers; as part of background checks you'd normally do, try to normalize asking for the meter number from your prospective landlord and taking it to the nearest DISCO office for investigations to know if there are any outstanding bills. It would save you a whole lot of stress.

Klass99:


Lol , which is probably why 7k took you through 15 days. With a fridge and iron it wouldn't have lasted that long. Sorry, I know the cost of living is high but we will get through this.

Says who?

We recharge 5k in my house & we use it with heavy weight appliances ma(all you can think of) & it still pass 15 days. Infact, the last one we recharged have passed 15 days & approaching 1 month.
Then, we pay 2000 a month in the compound for each flat for water.

I admit we don't have up to 20 hours light in a day but the trick about prepaid is not to be wasteful. How? If your fridge or freezer for example freezes sufficiently, turn it off for a while. Turn off unnecessary lights in the house especially in the day. I monitor what I use & how I use it & it's works perfectly for me.

Now imagine if I use only TV & fan & lights, you can imagine how long i will use 7k units.

There are other factors too to consider:
1) Op has constant light more than us so we also use a little generator especially in the evenings if there are no lights & that's money for fuel.

2) Some people work remotely from the house & so can leave appliances like AC/fan, TV, Dstv/Gotv/Dvd/Video games etc on for longer periods than people who go out & turn off those appliances.

3) Some people live in places that are dark even in the day & are not properly ventilated so they have to leave lights & AC/fan on for longer periods of time.

But on average & aside these special factors, if you are not wasteful, you won't spend so much on prepaid & I think it's still better than postpaid.
(Depending on where you live sha).

It can't be only you buying the unit,how many of you in the compound and how many meter is installed to the premises,maybe the landlord play fast one on you by asking the installer to put the primary meter to yours apartment,in which this meter is the one that accrued the debt

Kirchoffs:
I stay alone in a room and parlor self contain here in Lagos , although we have constant light, I have been in this area for less than 2year and light is at least 23-24 hrs per day.

I use 7000 naira to buy Nepa units on the 28th June and it’s finished already today being 12th of July, note that I don’t use anything that draws power in my house .

UPDATE!!!!

So I went to Nepa office today and I was told that there is a debt of 65k on the prepaid meter, each time I recharge Nepa takes off 60% from me for the debt settlement.

Now my question is, am I supposed to be paying a debt I don’t owe or is this the duty of the landlord.

Kirchoffs:
I stay alone in a room and parlor self contain here in Lagos , although we have constant light, I have been in this area for less than 2year and light is at least 23-24 hrs per day.

I use 7000 naira to buy Nepa units on the 28th June and it’s finished already today being 12th of July, note that I don’t use anything that draws power in my house .

UPDATE!!!!

So I went to Nepa office today and I was told that there is a debt of 65k on the prepaid meter, each time I recharge Nepa takes off 60% from me for the debt settlement.

Now my question is, am I supposed to be paying a debt I don’t owe or is this the duty of the landlord.

Let me explain...
That compound was not on prepaid meter before, so the arrears they were owing before the prepaid meter was brought to that compound was probably put on that meter or was shared to all the meters in that compound, find out if others using prepaid in that compound have arrears, if they don't , it means it was put on Ur meter alone, then the landlord should should be responsible for that, but if it was shared to all meters in the compound, then U have to carry the cross, since U have enough light, try to put off U fridge once it's blocked or very cold, put off all energy consuming appliances, also call an electrician to check if some one tapped Ur light from the meter

Klass99:


Lol , which is probably why 7k took you through 15 days. With a fridge and iron it wouldn't have lasted that long. Sorry, I know the cost of living is high but we will get through this.

Some of the nations we admire today and run to, had to take measures like these (e.g our removal of fuel subsidy) to get to where they are. Hang in there and buy more units because the alternative will be darkness, don't bypass the meter and create problems for your landlord or subsequent tenant abeg.

He uses 3.5k light and not 7k. We use 8k every month (pump water, deep freezer and ironing) I don't understand your 7k for 15 days is acceptable.

Klass99:


Lol , which is probably why 7k took you through 15 days. With a fridge and iron it wouldn't have lasted that long. Sorry, I know the cost of living is high but we will get through this.

Some of the nations we admire today and run to, had to take measures like these (e.g our removal of fuel subsidy) to get to where they are. Hang in there and buy more units because the alternative will be darkness, don't bypass the meter and create problems for your landlord or subsequent tenant abeg.

7k lasts me for two months with a fridge running for 9 hours per day and I don't use Iron. I don't really know the unit cost of electricity in your area.

ChybuzzDD:


None of you were able to address his main issue.

If it were you, would you be happy paying for debts you didn't incur??

@OP: It's the duty of the landlord to offset the debts incurred by his previous tenants.

Liaise with him on the best way to follow it.
One of the ways involves substracting the total expenses you incur in 1yr from the next annual rent.
It is not your responsibility to pay the debts and should never accept that.

@Op, follow what this person has just advised you to do. This same thing happened to me. Moved into an apartment last year. I also found out that there is an outstanding debt of 140k on the newly gotten prepaid metre for the 2bd apartment. The landlord promised to clear off this debt. But then again, after I had made payment for this apartment with other charges like the agreement, commission, damages etc, the landlord failed to clear this debt after months as promised. Every single recharge then, 60% value of the total sum is deducted and automatically use to service this said debt. Just to sum it up, I confronted the Landlord and mentioned to him how he failed to honour our agreement and also told him that my plan to ensure that the next renewal will not come at ease is guarantee. Finally, he agreed to deduct 100k from my next house rent renewal while I shoulder the remaining 40k. This was indeed fair to me and I agreed to that. Now, with just a recharge of 10k, I can be guarantee of 1 month units with constant electricity (16-22hrs daily). Lagos landlord enhhhhhh

Kirchoffs:
Yes I am

There's no way the former user can owe such amount on a prepaid meter, so I believe it's arrears from the whole compound or the former user had his own old meter and has been owing until Nepa brought the new meter, go to the market and buy 5watt bulb or even 3watts and change all the bulbs, put off Ur fridge once it's block, find out if some one has tapped Ur light , call an electrician to check and disconnect and trace the wire so U will know who put burden for Ur head