₦airaland Forum

Sincerely this is a terrible situation we find ourselves.
In my last apartment, my monthly electricity bill is around N1,500 after sharing with about 6 other flatmates. i never knew i was enjoying until i relocated 2 months ago. The 3 Bedroom i rented had been vacant in the last 6 months, PCHN office was duly notified yet the crazy bill of btw N20k and N22K was monthly delivered to the flat. it was after i packed in i was informed the earlier occupant actually left the very comfortable apartment 1. because of lack of corporation to pay electricity bills. 2. Huge and unreasonable estimated bill.
Effort by the landlady to sort the electricity menace was abortive. She earlier paid N60k each to a senior PHCN official to provide Pre-paid meter for each flats (No meter, no money). Months later she consulted another PHCN consultant to help out. In an attempt to help, the consultant ended up causing more wahala. He opened different account for each flats, after collecting another money to supply Pre-paid meters. The whole building was paying less than N20k b4, but immediately the new accounts were opened each flat if billed between N20k & N22K monthly.
This is absolutely unacceptable. We're in talk via our lawyer with Eked to get the accounts closed and wiped out. The most annoying thing is that they come almost every week now to disconnect electricity with the hope of extorting us of about N3k weekly.

I'm running out of patience already.

goryorhal:
@Op
Contact your CDA committee and I'm sure they will take it up from there ..


I stay in mushin too

How please? What are CDA committees by the way? Can you explain a bit better? Thank you!

doctokwus:
Rubbish!
Fuel,by Gen I guess you mean cannot and will never be better:
-The noise level alone is bad for human health and environment.
-You cannot use it for heavy appliances,unless you want to be changing parts monthly.If you decide to use it,the gen life is shortened,then you have to buy a new engine or entire new gen.
-At the end the cost is heavy more for less service.
(Assuming u even use for just a mere 4hrs a day of fuel,at best conservative estimate,thats 1k; x30days=30k.Add weekly oil top up of 1k=34k;for just 4hrs of limited appliances use per month)
So how can "fuel" be ever better than phcn light!

It is only a stop gap measure until you get connected back with a prepaid meter

Emmerlee:
Hello House,

The subject matter refers.. Guys what is really happening in Nigeria? Why are we all not making noise on the current grand fraud being perpetuated via PHCN estimated billing? What really is the reason PHCN is unable to supply prepaid meters to ALL households even when we are READY to pay double for each one? The unprecedented level of grand thieving that is happening in PHCN in broad day light defies all logic. It is unbelievable how callous we have become as a people.

I live at Kernel Street, off Amosu Street in Bode Thomas (Surulere LGA). As of January 2016, my postpaid PHCN bill was exactly N5,501.76. This was followed by a steady, continuous rise to N22,416.00 by January 2017 (407.5% increase). As of today, the 20th of June 2018, my MONTHLY estimated bills hover between N24,000.00 and N35,000.00. To be precise, the estimated bill given to me by PHCN for the month of June 2018 is exactly N29,760.00! In a country where minimum wage is N18,000 and house rent is paid by God's special grace.. What exactly is wrong with these people for goodness sake? How can you be doing this to us and be getting away with it because those who ought to care do not care?

I live in a 2 bedroom flat, I'm single and hardly in the house because of the nature of my job except for weekends. I also don't sleep at night with the Air Conditioner on because of health issues (knee related). I hardly have time to use my electric iron so I dry clean my clothes. My fridge has the popular advanced Smart Inverter Compressor technology that saves so much energy and can be powered by even a small generator. What exactly is in my small house that I should be paying an average of N30,000 every month to PHCN? I am finding it so hard to understand this level of wickedness and it's beginning to affect my sanity.

Before you ask what I've done about this please find details of my efforts at resolving this over the years:

1. I have been to the PHCN offices at Mushin and Ijora to complain (including their Doyin office which is closest to my house), nothing has come out of it.
2. I have written letters and sent emails to EKEDP (customercare@ekedp.com), nothing has come out of it.
3. I have written a letter to the Honourable Minister for Power, Works and Housing (letter was acknowledged as received) and a copy of the letter made to the Commercial Manager, Eko Electric Distribution Board, Mushin which was received with an official stamp by EKEDP customer care unit on the 13th of March 2017. Again, nothing came out of it.
4. I have sent emails to NERC (Eko Forum) on two different occasion this year to complain about this massive fraud going on in my area. The first time I wrote to Eko Forum, the PHCN marketer in charge of my area was summoned somehow because after that email he came over to my house to take an inventory of the electronic appliances in the house. After this he assured me that something will surely be done about my bills. It's about 3 months since that time and the crazy bills have continued. I wrote another email to them and they replied the following day that my request had been forwarded to EKEDP. Till today nothing has been done and the bills are still soaring high!

PHCN officials never come to the house to take Meter readings. They are just not interested. I was recently out of town for about 2 weeks with the house under lock and key but this does not stop PHCN from increasing my bills every month (whether there's usage or not). It may also interest you to know that PHCN officials, as is the norm of recent, always disconnect my building for at least 5 to 7 days each month following the inability of one of our tenants to pay up on time. Whenever this happens we all suffer blackout that last for several days while we wait for my neighbor to pay his own portion of the estimated bill which is around the same range as mine. This is so because PHCN supplies all the apartments in the house power via one cable that runs from the street pole to the building. Despite all the inconveniences PHCN will still proceed to punish us every month, with extremely high, unjustified bills! It beats my imagination how wicked these people are.

You are expected to pay up ANY bill you are given, regardless of the amount and regardless of usage. How you pay is none of their business. As I write this our power line has been disconnected again (all 4 flats) because one of our tenants is still running around looking for money to pay up. This is after I paid N30,000 and my next door neighbour paid N34,000. My people, do you really think this is sustainable? I'm tired of the whole thing. I feel as though I've been kidnapped and forced to part with my hard earned money every month. These guys are likely on a mission to ensure our monthly salaries end up in their pockets. The bills are still rising and will soon get to N50,000+ per month at this rate. Companies around my area (with lots of Air Conditioners and other heavy electronic gadgets) pay an average of N10,000 to N14,000 each month from my investigations, and three bedroom residential apartments with prepaid meters do not pay up to 20% of what I dole out to PHCN each month. why are defenseless Citizens being made to go through hell in Nigeria? I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of Nigerians groaning from this fraud. Where is our conscience as a people? Is this how we want to attain greatness without the fear of God?

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), empowered by the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005 stated on their website that it is the customer’s right to be notified in writing ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the DisCo serving the customer in line with NERC’s guidelines. PHCN does not write before disconnection. They are so quick to disconnect within 2 minutes and require us to pay N2000 per flat (N8,000 in total from my building) before they can reconnect, regardless. Who then are the laws made for? You complain, nothing comes our of it. You write letters to the authorities, nothing comes out of it. Maybe I should consider sueing them to court for all the inconveniences caused me over the years, but then will anything come out of it? I am Tired.

Maybe I should consider asking them to come remove my meter completely (they don't read it anyways). I'm tired of paying bills I do not understand. Any suggestions on how to handle this will be appreciated. Thanks for reading my rants, I really hope I don't end up with clinical depression at this rate.

bring nepa to disconnect ur lyt before u start any process of sorting out this issue. u already made a huge mistake of lying this useless bill for long now. The 30k u paid can give u good electricity supply for 30 days @ N1000 per day

why is our govt not concerned about this issue?
buhari this corruption from DISCOS is affecting the masses very directly
start fighting ur corruption from here!

Though been using prepaid for the past 3 year. But my advise is that , you and other tenant in the bulding should write to them that they should close your accout and leave one person out and you all can been using that one line you left out and share the bill

Me too oh... I stay in opic est agbara... I paid 100k for 3phase prepaid meter... They even give a room and parlour here 40k... But sha our light no dey blink I even think rat has turned my gen to 3bedroom flat... I no fit remember wen last I buy fuel but dem no gree give us prepaid meter

FX:
It is only a stop gap measure until you get connected back with a prepaid meter

If you have ever been on generator for just minimum of 3months alone,you would appreciate what it means to have electricity from the national grid.
If not for how ineffective our NASS is,and how fractionated,ineffective and fraudulent our labor unionS have become,a single legislation by NASS or a nationwide strike by the organised labor,would have seen the immediate provision of pre paid meters.
For God's sake,even during the days of our parents with NEPA,each house had a metre and I used to see NEPA officials come dutifully each month to read the metre and send appropriate bills.
In the bills then you would clearly see what each metred building consumed,the billing rate,even penalty for late payment,all stated clearly.
But here in 2018 with rapid advancement in technology Nigerian households are still being charged based on estimated billing!
Instead of progressing,we are regressing as a country!!
I would continue saying it with no apologies to anyone:if when the GSM telephony was brought to Nigeria by Obasanjo and Nigerian run companies had been given the exclusive rights to deploy the technology,by today 2018,we would still still not been able to make successful intra-state calls!!!The bills too would have been estimated,not even per minute,talkless of per second!!!!

ikeja electric give me a bill of 11k to 12k every month i only pay at most 5k...i stay in irawo.....we dont have a meter neither a prepaid...we use recklin wire and nepa bring estimate bill every month...you have to know your right as a citizen....it is illegal for nepa to bring estimate bill every month ...now i'm going to pay 4k

much123456:
Though been using prepaid for the past 3 year. But my advise is that , you and other tenant in the bulding should write to them that they should close your accout and leave one person out and you all can been using that one line you left out and share the bill

They will not close the account, they will just suspend the account. I had similar experienced.

President Buhari should use this as an opportunity to win the masses.

He should go into the power sector and fish out those corrupt managers there.


It is a fraud, some have electronic meter but they don't come to check and compute the amount but hence make use of estimation.

This shouldn't be happening in this century.



Let there be a protest concerning this and also on twitter, till the government hears us

Teetopz:
A thread on why PREPAID METER being distributed TO ALL may never be achieved in Nigeria.
After the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Electricity distribution companies are next on the list when it comes to corruption. This has been in existence from time immemorial, just like barracks, many government have come and gone but the deep rooted corruption in the system remains
In April 2016, I moved in to my current apartment. The apartment was still connected to an old meter and there was an outstanding payment of about N385,000.00 to be paid.

This wasn't revealed to me before I made payment for the rent, as usual (that's how they all do)
This became a worry and an absolute headache.

I asked the landlord why it was so and she made me understand that the apartment was not in use for 5years.

I asked how come it wasn't reported to NEPA so they'd stop the billing, she gave me a copy of the letter she wrote to them
So I took the matter up, wrote several mails to Eko electricity company and the matter was on for 11months, note that in the space of this 11 months, I never got a monthly bill lesser than 24,000.00

You want to ask if I have a factory in my apartment? No I don't.
So it extended from wanting the company to zerorize the ridiculous outstanding balance in the billing account to fighting and contesting the outrageous billing system which do not in any way represent my true electricity consumption and wanting a Prepaid Meter

The battle began.
After several exchange of mails betweens myself and Eko Electric and no solution was forthcoming, I moved the matter to NERC, the regulatory body for all electricity distribution companies in Nigeria.

I filed a petition against Ekedp and the undertaking in charge of my area.
Lo and behold, after three days from the petition submission to NERC, I got a call from the marketing manager for my area pleading for me to make myself available to allow them come to my house and take inventory of the electrical appliances I use.

NERC is working yeah? Right.
A staff of the Ekedp came to take the inventory and at the end of the computations, we calculated and multiplied each appliance by the estimated units they consume per day and multiplied by 31days.

Recall I said I never got a bill less than 24k in a month?
Then we arrived at a figure that even the Eko electric staff who came to take the inventory opened his mouth and couldn't close it.

What I should be billed based on having 24hour light per day(which is not even possible) in 31 days was 4,800.00

I almost ran mad.
I took a copy of the report, scanned it and attached it to my next petition to NERC.

At this point, the marketing manager attached to my undertaking had started calling and begging me to stop the petitions.

That they could all get sacked if matters gets escalated further.
Then in September 2017, after all the troubles and how I never got tired if pursuing the issue, I got a mail from Eko electricity to come with some required documents in order to fill a form for a PREPAID METER.

I went there and did as they requested

At Last.
On 27 November 2017, I was on leave.
I was at my gate then this Alfa looking guy was parading and trying to see house number on the fence. My instinct told me to ask if he was asking for Ayo, then he said yes

He was the prepaid meter installer, he was with my new prepaid meter
I also recall that before the whole issue started, I was discouraged severally that I can never be given prepaid meter due to the outstanding balance on the billing account, I paid no mind to all the people that said that and went ahead with my case.
I got the Prepaid meter for FREE. After a week, bill was brought and boom, outstanding balance has been cleared from 385,000.00 to zero balance.

How did I achieve this?
I mean I didn't pay a dime to anyone and I never for once bribed my way in all my dealings.
I achieved this simply because;

1. I knew my right.
2. I wouldn't settle for mediocrity
3. I never stopped pushing even after several months and it seemed unachievable
4. I was ready to take the matter up anywhere
5. I was informed.
Now imagine how many people are out there who don't even know how to go about such tedious and draining process.

I learnt that a lot of people even paid as much as 40k to get the prepaid meter. Something that's supposed to be free.
Since the prepaid meter was installed in November 27 2017, I have not exhausted the 303 units that came with it which is calculated to be 7,200.00

And I still have 140units left to use.

That's over four (4) months now
Do you now see why these people will never allow dream of every homes having a prepaid meter become a reality?

Because such development will block all holes where the electricity distribution corrupt members of staff perpetrate their fraudulent activities and corruption from.
They know that they will be forced to give light more in order to generate revenue and will not be able to charge people outrageously as they are currently doing and remitting the proceeds of their criminal act to their pockets.

Stand up and Fight for what is your right.
Prepaid meter is your right, fight for it to the latter.

If you believe that your monthly electricity bill do not represent your consumption, make a case.

If you're in Lagos, Ikeja Electricity company and Eko electricity company are there for you.

If they fail, involve NERC.
That will be all, for now.
Due to popular demand, these are the email addresses you can forward your complaints to -
Ikeja Electricity Distribution - customercare@ikejaelectric.com
Eko Electricity Distribution - customercare@ekedp.com
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission - complaints@nerc.gov.ng

Kindly send details of your complaint to contact@cpc.gov.ng
https://twitter.com/CPCNig/status/1009438818364248064

Bro, if you read my post you'd know I have done even more than this but nothing is coming out of it. My guess is that these bodies are no longer as strong as they used to be, as is the case with almost everything in Nigeria. Too bad!

You are not alone and I am really getting fed up Ikeja Disco, too. I tried fighting them over crazing bill to the point of even asking for disconnection. They then advised me to clear outstanding to enjoy a scheme for installation of prepaid meter within 21 days. The payment of outstanding balance of N150,000 was made in March, 2018 by me. Do you know that till date there's nothing done, yet their crazy bill keeps coming? Please how can we push for criminalisation of estimated billing that have passed second reading at the National Assembly which I believe is the way out of this finance sapping menace?

@Emmerlee, teetopz has laid out the way he got his meter.

I did the same NERC route in 2006/7. After their intervention, I still had to push by going to the MD at Marina. His secretary directed me to the officer in charge who then directed me to get a form at the Ijora office. Got the form and was directed to their office at Bar Beach. I waited for over four hours to see the South Afrcan boss because they said he'd left the premises to attend a meeting.

When the man returned he asked why I wanted a prepaid meter so bad when they were facing opposition to the meters even from their staff.
I told him we wanted to pay for what we consumed and stop being ripped off via the estimated bills.

The meter was installed the following day. It was a great relief not to have to go down to join the group around the Phcn officials demanding to see bills when they came around on their disconnection drives.

When you count the cost of two trips to Nerc at Abuja and the stress of moving around Lagos, it wasn't easy but it was worth it.

You must fight to get your due. They won't give it to you on a platter because they make a lot of money from estimated billing.

darthv:
please how do you guys write all these long stuffs

Gerrahia mehn....... Lazy you

FX:
Let's form a Registered Union and sue their ass to court. Union of residents Using Estimated Billing. Who is with me on this . I want to start going to court now. We must sue IKEDC and EKDC.

I'm in support. Nigerians are too docile n lazy to fight for their rights, always waiting for god to fight for them, people that shld serve u are oppressing u in broad daylight, yet u keep paying n grumbling n saying: 'only god can help us', really? : from phcn to FRSC (drivers license) to immigration (int passport), they're all criminals.
Call their bluff n refuse to pay outrageous fees, insist on paying d official fees/bills n watch them do d right thing. you'll only suffer a little while n they'd b forced to do d right thing. problem is, Nigerians don't want to suffer/stress themselves even for a short while. (fela was right)

Don't relent. Continue to pursue the matter at nerc and move further to petitioning consumer protection council. You will definitely get redress.

Emmerlee:
Hello House,

The subject matter refers.. Guys what is really happening in Nigeria? Why are we all not making noise on the current grand fraud being perpetuated via PHCN estimated billing? What really is the reason PHCN is unable to supply prepaid meters to ALL households even when we are READY to pay double for each one? The unprecedented level of grand thieving that is happening in PHCN in broad day light defies all logic. It is unbelievable how callous we have become as a people.

I live at Kernel Street, off Amosu Street in Bode Thomas (Surulere LGA). As of January 2016, my postpaid PHCN bill was exactly N5,501.76. This was followed by a steady, continuous rise to N22,416.00 by January 2017 (407.5% increase). As of today, the 20th of June 2018, my MONTHLY estimated bills hover between N24,000.00 and N35,000.00. To be precise, the estimated bill given to me by PHCN for the month of June 2018 is exactly N29,760.00! In a country where minimum wage is N18,000 and house rent is paid by God's special grace.. What exactly is wrong with these people for goodness sake? How can you be doing this to us and be getting away with it because those who ought to care do not care?

I live in a 2 bedroom flat, I'm single and hardly in the house because of the nature of my job except for weekends. I also don't sleep at night with the Air Conditioner on because of health issues (knee related). I hardly have time to use my electric iron so I dry clean my clothes. My fridge has the popular advanced Smart Inverter Compressor technology that saves so much energy and can be powered by even a small generator. What exactly is in my small house that I should be paying an average of N30,000 every month to PHCN? I am finding it so hard to understand this level of wickedness and it's beginning to affect my sanity.

Before you ask what I've done about this please find details of my efforts at resolving this over the years:

1. I have been to the PHCN offices at Mushin and Ijora to complain (including their Doyin office which is closest to my house), nothing has come out of it.
2. I have written letters and sent emails to EKEDP (customercare@ekedp.com), nothing has come out of it.
3. I have written a letter to the Honourable Minister for Power, Works and Housing (letter was acknowledged as received) and a copy of the letter made to the Commercial Manager, Eko Electric Distribution Board, Mushin which was received with an official stamp by EKEDP customer care unit on the 13th of March 2017. Again, nothing came out of it.
4. I have sent emails to NERC (Eko Forum) on two different occasion this year to complain about this massive fraud going on in my area. The first time I wrote to Eko Forum, the PHCN marketer in charge of my area was summoned somehow because after that email he came over to my house to take an inventory of the electronic appliances in the house. After this he assured me that something will surely be done about my bills. It's about 3 months since that time and the crazy bills have continued. I wrote another email to them and they replied the following day that my request had been forwarded to EKEDP. Till today nothing has been done and the bills are still soaring high!

PHCN officials never come to the house to take Meter readings. They are just not interested. I was recently out of town for about 2 weeks with the house under lock and key but this does not stop PHCN from increasing my bills every month (whether there's usage or not). It may also interest you to know that PHCN officials, as is the norm of recent, always disconnect my building for at least 5 to 7 days each month following the inability of one of our tenants to pay up on time. Whenever this happens we all suffer blackout that last for several days while we wait for my neighbor to pay his own portion of the estimated bill which is around the same range as mine. This is so because PHCN supplies all the apartments in the house power via one cable that runs from the street pole to the building. Despite all the inconveniences PHCN will still proceed to punish us every month, with extremely high, unjustified bills! It beats my imagination how wicked these people are.

You are expected to pay up ANY bill you are given, regardless of the amount and regardless of usage. How you pay is none of their business. As I write this our power line has been disconnected again (all 4 flats) because one of our tenants is still running around looking for money to pay up. This is after I paid N30,000 and my next door neighbour paid N34,000. My people, do you really think this is sustainable? I'm tired of the whole thing. I feel as though I've been kidnapped and forced to part with my hard earned money every month. These guys are likely on a mission to ensure our monthly salaries end up in their pockets. The bills are still rising and will soon get to N50,000+ per month at this rate. Companies around my area (with lots of Air Conditioners and other heavy electronic gadgets) pay an average of N10,000 to N14,000 each month from my investigations, and three bedroom residential apartments with prepaid meters do not pay up to 20% of what I dole out to PHCN each month. why are defenseless Citizens being made to go through hell in Nigeria? I'm sure there are hundreds of thousands of Nigerians groaning from this fraud. Where is our conscience as a people? Is this how we want to attain greatness without the fear of God?

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), empowered by the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act, 2005 stated on their website that it is the customer’s right to be notified in writing ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the DisCo serving the customer in line with NERC’s guidelines. PHCN does not write before disconnection. They are so quick to disconnect within 2 minutes and require us to pay N2000 per flat (N8,000 in total from my building) before they can reconnect, regardless. Who then are the laws made for? You complain, nothing comes our of it. You write letters to the authorities, nothing comes out of it. Maybe I should consider sueing them to court for all the inconveniences caused me over the years, but then will anything come out of it? I am Tired.

Maybe I should consider asking them to come remove my meter completely (they don't read it anyways). I'm tired of paying bills I do not understand. Any suggestions on how to handle this will be appreciated. Thanks for reading my rants, I really hope I don't end up with clinical depression at this rate.

Hello dear,
*clears throat*
This same thing you have suffered is what I previously suffered.
I knew what to do right from the onset but my Mama no just gree let me do am until the day they increased our bill to 30k!
We managed to raise 11k and paid it.
We then paid re-connection fee of N2500.
They connected us back the next day and came the day after to disconnect us!
We paid another N2500 for re-connection; they reconnected us the next day and disconnected us two days after!
Even my Mama know sef say I don try as I vowed we would never have anything to do with "Nepa"!
This all happened in January.
You will not believe that this "Nepa" guys brought a fresh 30k bill at the end of February even while our disconnected wire was still on the ground!
I am waiting for them to come and collect the money o.
They have not brought any bill from then till now.

My neighbours who live in a three bedroom were paying just 3k as bill before they switched to prepaid meters.

We use gen now. We switch on gen at nights or whenever feel we need light to charge phone.
My braadah peace of mind don come.
I spend less than 5k, 4k sef on fuel monthly. How? We are hardly ever in the house except at night when all you want to do is crash after the hectic traffic!
I am saying that from January ending till now, I have been running gen and I have known Peace, Joy, Progress and more money for food.

I am so going solar.
I saw one Inlaks Energy advert here on Nairaland.
I shall be their customer!!!

Do you know Nepa children attend wonderful schools while they suck your blood?
When someone was pointing out the Nepa Agent`s child school and the fact that most of them are Landlords, I weak!

By the time we all disconnect from the National grid, I will see what becomes of them.

We need to start a trend like #EndSars
#GiveUsPrepaidMeters

I have the same issues, but I have reported them to cpc (customer protection council ) they have petition them,atlease I can see the green light.

Kindly send details of your complaint to contact@cpc.gov.ng

Emmerlee:
Bro, if you read my post you'd know I have done even more than this but nothing is coming out of it. My guess is that these bodies are no longer as strong as they used to be, as is the case with almost everything in Nigeria. Too bad!

someone just tabled your matter om twitter. click on the attached link.

Sijo01:
This is the ordeal of many postpaid users. It's so frustrating that nobody is listening to their cry.

I'm not surprised; THIS IS NIGERIA

I thought AEDC is the worst nightmare.
Well,the good news is the bill to criminalise estimated billing has passed the second reading,I also read that Disco is threatening to go on mass disconnection should the law comes to effect.
According to them,they cannot afford to supply meter to everyone, and also meter cost between 70k and above.
The bill is sponsored by Gbajamila from Lagos state.

Teetopz:
Kindly send details of your complaint to contact@cpc.gov.ng someone just tabled your matter om twitter. click on the attached link.

Seen, thank you. Will do so soon!

bigfish3k:
"there is no prepaid meter" they will tell you

but expect u to pay for their inefficiency of not providing prepaid meters
the kind of wickedness running in the blood of these people eeh

i just relocated to a new apartment and luckily for me the last occupant used a prepaid meter os there is no outstanding bill
the electricity guy just came and opened a new siphoning account for me
can u imagine that they brought a bill of N29, 500 for only three weeks that we have stayed in the new house

Write them to disconnect and stop the billing before it becomes to much. You will get prepaid meter from these same people between 50k and 70k without having to wait long.

baba pay them wat u have
if na 3k
naso dem dey nack me bill 35k
i dey pay 3k
God punish them

upuphim:
You are not alone and I am really getting fed up Ikeja Disco, too. I tried fighting them over crazing bill to the point of even asking for disconnection. They then advised me to clear outstanding to enjoy a scheme for installation of prepaid meter within 21 days. The payment of outstanding balance of N150,000 was made in March, 2018 by me. Do you know that till date there's nothing done, yet their crazy bill keeps coming? Please how can we push for criminalisation of estimated billing that have passed second reading at the National Assembly which I believe is the way out of this finance sapping menace?

You made mistake by paying. The process is like this: you would pay for the prepaid meter which was around 25k official cost back then (unofficial could be 30k or 40k). Then, before installation, they would ask you if you wanted to pay up your accumulated debt upfront or in installments every month whenever you want to buy energy.

Teetopz:
A thread on why PREPAID METER being distributed TO ALL may never be achieved in Nigeria.
After the Nigerian Police, Nigerian Electricity distribution companies are next on the list when it comes to corruption. This has been in existence from time immemorial, just like barracks, many government have come and gone but the deep rooted corruption in the system remains
In April 2016, I moved in to my current apartment. The apartment was still connected to an old meter and there was an outstanding payment of about N385,000.00 to be paid.

This wasn't revealed to me before I made payment for the rent, as usual (that's how they all do)
This became a worry and an absolute headache.

I asked the landlord why it was so and she made me understand that the apartment was not in use for 5years.

I asked how come it wasn't reported to NEPA so they'd stop the billing, she gave me a copy of the letter she wrote to them
So I took the matter up, wrote several mails to Eko electricity company and the matter was on for 11months, note that in the space of this 11 months, I never got a monthly bill lesser than 24,000.00

You want to ask if I have a factory in my apartment? No I don't.
So it extended from wanting the company to zerorize the ridiculous outstanding balance in the billing account to fighting and contesting the outrageous billing system which do not in any way represent my true electricity consumption and wanting a Prepaid Meter

The battle began.
After several exchange of mails betweens myself and Eko Electric and no solution was forthcoming, I moved the matter to NERC, the regulatory body for all electricity distribution companies in Nigeria.

I filed a petition against Ekedp and the undertaking in charge of my area.
Lo and behold, after three days from the petition submission to NERC, I got a call from the marketing manager for my area pleading for me to make myself available to allow them come to my house and take inventory of the electrical appliances I use.

NERC is working yeah? Right.
A staff of the Ekedp came to take the inventory and at the end of the computations, we calculated and multiplied each appliance by the estimated units they consume per day and multiplied by 31days.

Recall I said I never got a bill less than 24k in a month?
Then we arrived at a figure that even the Eko electric staff who came to take the inventory opened his mouth and couldn't close it.

What I should be billed based on having 24hour light per day(which is not even possible) in 31 days was 4,800.00

I almost ran mad.
I took a copy of the report, scanned it and attached it to my next petition to NERC.

At this point, the marketing manager attached to my undertaking had started calling and begging me to stop the petitions.

That they could all get sacked if matters gets escalated further.
Then in September 2017, after all the troubles and how I never got tired if pursuing the issue, I got a mail from Eko electricity to come with some required documents in order to fill a form for a PREPAID METER.

I went there and did as they requested

At Last.
On 27 November 2017, I was on leave.
I was at my gate then this Alfa looking guy was parading and trying to see house number on the fence. My instinct told me to ask if he was asking for Ayo, then he said yes

He was the prepaid meter installer, he was with my new prepaid meter
I also recall that before the whole issue started, I was discouraged severally that I can never be given prepaid meter due to the outstanding balance on the billing account, I paid no mind to all the people that said that and went ahead with my case.
I got the Prepaid meter for FREE. After a week, bill was brought and boom, outstanding balance has been cleared from 385,000.00 to zero balance.

How did I achieve this?
I mean I didn't pay a dime to anyone and I never for once bribed my way in all my dealings.
I achieved this simply because;

1. I knew my right.
2. I wouldn't settle for mediocrity
3. I never stopped pushing even after several months and it seemed unachievable
4. I was ready to take the matter up anywhere
5. I was informed.
Now imagine how many people are out there who don't even know how to go about such tedious and draining process.

I learnt that a lot of people even paid as much as 40k to get the prepaid meter. Something that's supposed to be free.
Since the prepaid meter was installed in November 27 2017, I have not exhausted the 303 units that came with it which is calculated to be 7,200.00

And I still have 140units left to use.

That's over four (4) months now
Do you now see why these people will never allow dream of every homes having a prepaid meter become a reality?

Because such development will block all holes where the electricity distribution corrupt members of staff perpetrate their fraudulent activities and corruption from.
They know that they will be forced to give light more in order to generate revenue and will not be able to charge people outrageously as they are currently doing and remitting the proceeds of their criminal act to their pockets.

Stand up and Fight for what is your right.
Prepaid meter is your right, fight for it to the latter.

If you believe that your monthly electricity bill do not represent your consumption, make a case.

If you're in Lagos, Ikeja Electricity company and Eko electricity company are there for you.

If they fail, involve NERC.
That will be all, for now.
Due to popular demand, these are the email addresses you can forward your complaints to -
Ikeja Electricity Distribution - customercare@ikejaelectric.com
Eko Electricity Distribution - customercare@ekedp.com
Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission - complaints@nerc.gov.ng

Kindly send details of your complaint to contact@cpc.gov.ng
https://twitter.com/CPCNig/status/1009438818364248064

Thank u sir

pawesome:
Force dem to give u a prepaid meter....shii works for real
But if you can be patient till de come fix it fr u for free,den de will clear all outstanding payment and stat evrytin like its a new line

Here in plateau state,most household have prepaid meters and that I must say has saved us a lot of stress with lots of electricity management involved...

Modified....
Seeing some comments where it was difficult to get prepaid meters...over hia,de force it on us..if u refuse d free prepaid meter,u get disconnected..and it is fixed directly on d pole so you have no way of by passing it

Do you climb the pole to input the recharge code?

CrazyRichNig:
Stop paying! They brought bill for everyone in my street, the lowest was 30k. We all decided not to pay. They came to disconnect the light yesterday, we even gave them Coke to drink. After they left, we connected it back. Na so we go do until they bring prepaid meter. Rubbish!

Una buy them coke? that was hilarious man lol

[quote author=FX post=68659600]Let's form a Registered Union and sue their ass to court. Union of residents Using Estimated Billing. Who is with me on this . I want to start going to court now. We must sue IKEDC and EKDC.

I am with you on this...we need pressure group using legal means to get them to do what is right.

Hello Op,
Sorry for the inconvenience. My advice might be a bit long but if you want to bring EKEDP to their knees, I hope my epistle will help you and ensure that EKEDP actually refunds all the money they have collected from you. I am assuming that you are not a regular defaulter.

If I may ask, do you have a post-paid meter in place and is it currently working? If yes, did EKEDP officials ever take readings from the meter before they put you on estimated billing and did these readings ever reflect on the bills they brought to you? If yes again, please check your bill to get the last actual reading (LAR) and the date of the last actual reading. I suspect that your LAR will be on the January 2016 bill, since that was the lowest amount you mentioned. Please compare the LAR to today’s reading, to know if your meter is actually working. You can also calculate how much electricity you have used since the LAR and how much you should have overpaid since then (I assume you are on RS2 and should be paying 24.00 per Kwh). If your post-paid meter is working fine, PLEASE CALCULATE HOW MUCH YOU ARE OWED, you are entitled to a refund from EKEDP.

I am emphasising on the meter because EKEDP officials might want to use it against you when NERC calls you for a hearing. They usually want to justify their exorbitant bills by claiming that customers with post-paid meters have “bypassed” them. In some cases, they will even claim that there is no meter in your house. If it is possible, ENSURE THAT NO EKEDP OFFICIAL TOUCHES YOUR POST-PAID METER because once your petition is with NERC, they will try as much as possible to tamper with your meter.

When you are done with your meter readings and taking the LAR, please write a letter to the NERC’s Eko Forum office at Odunlami Street. Ensure that the letter lists all your complaints, LAR and the amount of money you are being owed by EKEDP. Attach copies of all the bills you have paid from January 2016 till date, including the one you are disputing currently. Also attach copies of all the emails you have sent to EKEDP and NERC till date, so that they will know your complaint did not originate recently. You can take pictures of the meter readings and also attach to your complaint to prove that your meter is working. Take three copies of the letter and documents along with you, NERC will need that much.

After NERC sends your complaint to EKEDP, EKEDP will respond and NERC will send their response to you. If you are not satisfied with EKEDP’s response, you will write back to NERC to inform them of same. NERC will then call you for a hearing. Until NERC rules on your complaint, you should not pay a dime to EKEDP because they are the ones owing you money as you will state in your petition. The whole process could take up to 3 months but dem no born EKEDP well to disconnect your light once your complaint is with NERC, even if it is there for one year. Marketers will come to your house to beg you to withdraw your petition and they will even offer you a prepaid meter, but please stay strong and collect your money before you cave in to their demands.

I wish you all the best and hope this will solve the problem.

maasoap:
Write them to disconnect and stop the billing before it becomes to much. You will get prepaid meter from these same people between 50k and 70k without having to wait long.

thanks a lot
i have tried getting a prepaid meter but they are still their usual self, telling me its not available
i have already written a complaint letter, they acknowledged it as usual, still waiting for their response. its pathetic the kind of wickedness we inflict on ourselves in this country, a country which minimum wage is N18,000 receiving a domestic light bill of N30,000 per month. my friends with prepaid meter don't spend more than N2,000 per month in recharging it. i believe The electricity companies or DISCO's are deliberately hoarding the meters because it keeps them in check and protects u from their them and also protects them from u but it seems they dont know. But dont they know that it will eliminate the hazard of carrying ladder up and down and also eliminate the electrocution of those their casual staff on our poles. it seems we are just striving very hard day by day to remain a third world country


i suggest that the govt should allow an open market for the sale of prepaid meters, let the DISCO's come and do the registration of the meters at our homes because they have totally abused the privileges and advantages given to them by the govt

even if they must estimate our bills, must it be so WILD? Please we need govt protection on this metering cheating by the DISCO's

Go get a good charm and put it around the pole,by the time they see the effect they will stop coming! Wicked people...