@OP, there is no hope for nepa, phcn, ekep ikedc or any of the numerous alphabeth soup disco derivatives

i had thought that their transition to a private company would come with the inevitable shakeups that privatization brings

but nothing like that. they are largely as arrogantly incompetent and greedy as they have ever been

i live in festac and have been without light for two months now

two officials came to my house claiming i had 'bypassed' my meter. they disconnected me, asked that i come to their office.
i printed out the online payment evidence and took it to their office. their manager claimed it did not matter, that the meter had been looped and i was not paying full bill

i then called their customer care to complain. customer care promised to resolve.
after a week, i called again. no story.

i remembered that i have had some interactions with their ceo years back, and have some of his emails

i composed an email detailing everything that had happened, including their outrageous printed form claiming the house had been illegally connected since 2012 and was owing 800k

i sent the email to customer care, copying multiple senior managers and the ceo

no reply for five straight days. then the festac manager behind the whole thing reponded "this is being investigated for further analysis"

two days later, a customer care manager responded with an apology.

since then - NOTHING.

i work in corporate nigeria, and is a customer were to make that sort of complaint with multiple ogas in copy, there would be an IMMEDIATE response, and someone would be sanctioned, and the issue rectified

i had had an issue loading an ekedcp card once, and i emailed, then, called support [this is not ekedp, but a third party]. support was rude and condescending. i then doxxed emails of the ceo, and sent a followup email, with the offensive phone call in copy. i immediately got a call back from the rude staff, apologizing profusely. the ceo responded immediately to my email.

that is how professional organizations work. if you escalate an issue to the ceo of company and there is no response, know that company is effed.

as it is i am solwly off gridding - i have three petrol gens which are being overflogged, i have converted them to gas. i am also planning to deploy a photovoltaic solution in the next two months [not cheap].

ekedp, and co have the single benefit of being a monopoly, or thinking they are.

already alot of corporate entities are giving them the finger and moving to solar power. one of our facilitates, which had a similar issue with ekedp, and was disconnected for two months, is now fully solar. another is coming up.

fuuuuck ekedp, ikedc, and all other phcn offshoots

What does it cost the government to get everyone on prepaid meter? Little!
Method 1:
1. Get efficient and capable contractors to import and install the pre-paid meters in every household.
2. FG pays the contractors to do their job.
3. FG gets its money back from monthly recharging of meters or monthly fixed charge of N500.

Method 2:

1. FG partners with Chinese companies to mass manufacture prepaid meters for them.
2. FG Forces encourages consumers to buy (through remita) from their DISCOs and penalises DISCOs hoarding it.
3. FG gets it money through remita.

Method 3:
1. Combine method 1 and 2

Method 4:

FG pretends to do method 1, 2 or 3 while it keeps singing the anti-corruption song.

Just take them to court and see miracle



They fear court like mad






Thank me later

PHCN hmmmm,just leave them to god

MrPresident1:


I can absolutely understand how you feel. You keep paying bills yet the bills keep increasing, like some stupid ponzi scheme. The more you pay the higher your bill increases like you are chasing the wind.

Give us prepaid meter, lailai.

Their nonsense will be treated one day very very soon.

They're hiding the meters now.

Estimated billing na scam get prepaid

Scan the bill and post. I sure guess its unpaid bills carried forward.

Scan the bill and post. I sure guess its unpaid bills carried forward.
For estimated billing, if u dont pay on time the bill is moved to the next month and will only reflect in the 3rd months bill. I guess that why u get up and down reading.

I asked the phcn guy how feasible it is to get prepaid meter, he said he can't assure me of anything,he said the over billing was because the meter wasnt reading well, OK let them come and service the meter he said even if I write to their headquarters, he is not sure I will be attended to and if they do decide to look into it, I will have to pay for it. Abeg I just wish there was an alternative to phcn,who has time to be attending court sections with phcn?

omogidi234:


@ Op, please invite them to disconnect and stop billing! That's is the only way out.

This is how to contest the bill, write a well articulated letter to the MD and contest the bill.

If after two months, no action, write a letter to NERC covering your area and attach acknowledged copy of the earlier letters, 4 copies.

If that doesn't work too, the last option is court.

Even in europe that has steady power, my bill is not up to 27 eur.

Ceede:
when ever you see them coming just look for a giant foreign dog tie it close to the pole then sit close to ur window n watch the drama.

Mad people just full here

PaperLace:
Sisisioge, that's their modus operandi now o.

Here they just look at the house, if the paint and gate fine _they knack you N25,000. If your fence done dey fall _ N3,500.

Faints

I just want prepaid meter, but they are not even ready to give it either

hAlexandro:
same thing happened to the house where I stay but try checking your previous reading and the recent reading if the difference between the two is more than 100 which gives the unit consumed then it would definitely increase your vat hence the bogus billings but I would advise you see the district business unit visit the manager directly and take your bills along to explain to him/her

If only you guys could just write to NERC and submit your queries clearly stating the distribution contractor involved, believe me they will do something to stop all the anormaly. I never believed government institutions worked in this country until 5days ago when I wrote to NERC reporting the DC in my area for over billing me, they immediately wrote a warning reply mail to the DC and gave them 3days to correct it or face sanction, the DC corrected the bill at exactly the 3rd day and apologized to me.

jeeqaa7:
I had the same issue.. Even worse.
So I stopped paying and confided in a friend (mischievous fellow)..

He tied a red cloth and some strange looking stuffs on the nepa pole.


It's been 8 months now since I last saw an aedc staff near my house.

Nb. My friend is no longer mischievous but you can try his method.. At your own risk

You said four months ago....if na this year u paid and got the meter, kindly let us know how it went so we can get ours


[quote author=kevoh post=60931610]

Finally prepaid meter that was paid for by my landlord for each flat over four months ago were installed. I barely use up to N2000 in a month sef, I get extra 20 to 30 units as a form of monthly repayment plan. Major consumers: refrigerator, deep freezer, electric cooker and Sumo water pump.

/quote]

Same happen to me in my area at Oloruntumo Apata lbadan.Due to nature of my work,l will left home 8am and return home 10 pm,can you believe IBDEC gave me bill of 10,453 per month,do not paid it and it amount to 30,453,they disconnect the light right from pole,up to 3 month now that am running my generator,on last month they gave me bill of 6k,a light they have already disconnected,they are thief.l surely know when l move out,landlord will solved the problem not me.

Omo we they enjoy be that o.. Chai..

Our whole full street. Not more than 3 houses have NEPA bill

So when NEPA come.. We sort them 1500 and the bounce.

No bill no payment. Just sorting and we are fine. Cox the moment you apply for meter and bill.. You don enter am

Just returned from their office (Ikeja Electric) where I went to submit a petition.

Phcn palaver everywhere.
Sisisioge, you have said the right thing.
Write them to stop billing the apartment, tell them you don't need their light for now.
Then, negotiate with caretaker or landlord that you will like to use your rental fee to request for prepaid metre.
You can now apply for it.
Note, when applying for the prepaid metre, make sure you get to know one of the local electricians in your area, preferably their chairman because these local electricians work together with Phcn Staff .
If you can do this , within two months your prepaid metre will be fixed.
That's how they use to bring outrageous bill to me untill I get prepaid metre. Now I use #2000 worth of credit units for two months.

EKEDC enjoys estimated billing
I stay in one bedroom apartment and was charged 6k for just TV and frigde. I have called customer care on several occasions but nothing was done. Went to Adekunle-yaba office to complain, the marketer in charge and her boss said the bill is normal. My light was disconnected last week because I paid 5k out of 6k. The marketer said her money is 6k and not 5k. Please how is it her money. I urgently need a prepaid meter, anyhow with info should pm me please. Thanks

cocoberry:
The annoying part is my salary didn't increase and yet everything has added in the market

Not funny at all

sisisioge:
Hello house, please I need some serious help here. PHCN has been the only issue I've got with the apartment I share. It is actually a converted mini-flat com two-bedroom. A GF and I decided to demarcate the space such that we both got our rooms. We came in as simple girls with simple gadgets.

I had just two bulbs, a TV, fridge and AC. Nothing more except some rarely used kitchen gadgets. She had small stuffs like me too. We were barely home to use these things. Soon enough, she got transferred and left her space to her young male cousin whose main belonging is a radio...no power consumption.

All was well for about three months into our stay until craaze fell on PHCN.Our bill jumped from 2k to 12k, 10k, etc. In fact, we once got 17k! I swearit, I tried to move out but couldn't get anything affordable and thought I could have it fixed. So, we've been paying 10k every month for as long as I can remember, yet, we have over 60k outstanding on the bill! This was because we were paying 3k for about six months before deciding to up amount after realizing the value kept increasing.

The unthinkable happened today when I got home to see a disconnection ticket even after paying 10k about 2 weeks ago!Now I'm thinking of just writing them to stop our billing, we are no longer interested. Cos I am so not gonna pay, will probably partially move back home.

What do you think? We have gone to their Shomolu customer care tire, spoken to the marketing manager here... nothing. They came for load assessment yet nothing. E don tire me. What should we do? Our small space gets charged same amount the bigger flats get...yet we no get anything o. We asked for prepaid meter, yet nothing.

Be taking note of the meter readings yourself, and calculate how much consumption you have each month. Try to get in touch with your marketer, he/she is the dubious one behind your crazy billing. Tell them you won't be paying for any estimated billing
EKEDC are the most cruel dubious distribution company. They showed me pepper when I was in Surulere. Even after disconnecting me for four months, they still kept bringing crazy bills, minimum of 14k bill while I was there. Wey I no dey use anything apart from TV, fan, microwave. Dasall. Compared to now that I moved to an Ikeja electric area, even with 3 ACs, 6 fans, countless kitchen appliances, I get a bill of between 2k to 3k monthly

9jatatafo:
This discos are just open fraudsters, the meter reading they always printed on my bill is always higher than the actual meter reading, I have complained to their customer service and I am tired of it, every month is estimated bill while I have meter. in fact I am looking for means to get the prepaid meter, these people are just wicked

Can't you open your meter and adjust the settings? Look for a needle and use it to un screw your meter at the two sides. When you open it, you'll see a red knob/screw inside the meter on the left, as you turn the numbers change. Keep turning it to whichever number you want. Minus that number with your previous reading and calculate 21naira times the number.
When you're done check if your meter reads fast, if it is adjust it with a screw driver (nothing serious, you just push the lower part of that thing that turns) Lobatan.
I discovered this out of boredom when they wanted to kill me with estimated billing. Apparently someone had tampered with it and my meter was always running like Hell. I live alone and the only powerful thing that consumes power is my Pumping machine yet they'll be bringing me 8k. Now I pay 700 or 1k. It is alright to cheat them if you don't get to enjoy power supply and they still bring you extraordinary billing.

frenzyduchess:
I only came here to see how one can contest unfair bills, but all I am seeing so far is people whining, we need solution not all this complain

I tell you..if we all wail and express our treatment at the hands of this corrupt discos...we gonna reach over 20 pages..but the Op want a solution to the challenges faced.. we all knew all this before now..so way forward please

AryaSand:

Can't you open your meter and adjust the settings? Look for a needle and use it to un screw your meter at the two sides. When you open it, you'll see a red knob/screw inside the meter on the left, as you turn the numbers change. Keep turning it to whichever number you want. Minus that number with your previous reading and calculate 21naira times the number.
When you're done check if your meter reads fast, if it is adjust it with a screw driver (nothing serious, you just push the lower part of that thing that turns) Lobatan.
I discovered this out of boredom when they wanted to kill me with estimated billing. Apparently someone had tampered with it and my meter was always running like Hell. I live alone and the only powerful thing that consumes power is my Pumping machine yet they'll be bringing me 8k. Now I pay 700 or 1k. It is alright to cheat them if you don't get to enjoy power supply and they still bring you extraordinary billing.

Correct, I will do it right away. Those NEPA are rogues

frenzyduchess:
I just want prepaid meter, but they are not even ready to give it either

it doesn't come easy like that unless you can pull some strings better still there are some crooks amongst them that could wipe the bill but you have to pay some money depends on how much is being owed thou

Homeboiy:
Your own na small thing

They came to serve us paper that we r owing an outstanding bill of 107,855.00


And we pay 17,000 every month

No b say I de use light pass 5_hrs a day


BEDC na una know oo

Our landlord self na mumu man

As a landlord, I got a prepaid meter for myself and my tenants. To be frank with u, PHCN avoid my compound like snare because I have something that makes them angry. Prepaid meter. Just try and get a prepaid meter and all the bills accumulated will be over. They know with the prepaid meter, they will not be making those corrupt money thats why they refuse to give it out. Just imagine the peace I have enjoyed so far since February till now. Meter is the way to go

@sisisioge: You are not alone. I am also in Shomolu District and I have been battling them for a review over the past four months. Its a pity, things don't just work for good of the masses in Nigeria. Do you know that their customer care defended the crazing bill by saying that we are being billed by amount of energy delivered to our transformer whereas we are not MD customer? This is unfair treatment which means every meter holder pays the same amount with households having up to two airconditioners. Ikeja Disco should remember the natural law that one will always reap whatever he sows. They will never make profit with unjust billing method if they believe it or not.

Sorry o, try and get the analog meter, that's what am using and my bill dropped from N3500 to N600, since you are using estimated billing system, they will still continue billing you more even if you want to leave that area, the meter is yours.

CosmeticChemist:
You Nigerians don't like to pay your dues.. If you don't have constant power supply, you complain. You have now, it's too expensive you say... 12k in a month for stable power supply or even 6 hrs in a day is embarrassingly cheap. You might need to check cost of gas or coal, coupled with transmission problems and theft along the lines before you come here to complain about bills

My people complain about everything

AryaSand:

Can't you open your meter and adjust the settings? Look for a needle and use it to un screw your meter at the two sides. When you open it, you'll see a red knob/screw inside the meter on the left, as you turn the numbers change. Keep turning it to whichever number you want. Minus that number with your previous reading and calculate 21naira times the number.
When you're done check if your meter reads fast, if it is adjust it with a screw driver (nothing serious, you just push the lower part of that thing that turns) Lobatan.
I discovered this out of boredom when they wanted to kill me with estimated billing. Apparently someone had tampered with it and my meter was always running like Hell. I live alone and the only powerful thing that consumes power is my Pumping machine yet they'll be bringing me 8k. Now I pay 700 or 1k. It is alright to cheat them if you don't get to enjoy power supply and they still bring you extraordinary billing.

Fear God na