Concerns as DisCo removes ‘faulty’ electricity meters, places Abuja consumers on high bills

Some electricity consumers in Abuja have expressed agony over what they described as exploitation as their meters are removed and they are being placed on estimated billing, in the pretext that their meters are faulty.

Some electricity consumers in Abuja have expressed agony over what they described as exploitation as their meters are removed and they are being placed on estimated billing, in the pretext that their meters are faulty.

Abuja and three states – Kogi, Nasarawa and Niger are the franchise area of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) which is one of the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) operated by private investors since the power sector privatization of 2013.

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Around Wuse II axis of Abuja, Musa Halilu, told our reporter about the practice early December, saying the officials of AEDC from the Wuse II customer centre, after inspecting meters in the estate, said three were faulty.

“They removed three of the six meters and said they have the mandate to replace faulty meters. But nearly a month later, they brought an estimated bill of N30,000 each for the three flats.

“I asked that we were expecting the replacement meters but they said the meters were not ready and that we will have to be on estimated bills for at least three months,” lamented Halilu.

What pained Halilu and his neighbours the most is that, while they were on meter, they often vend about N10,000 tokens monthly. But that has tripled after AEDC removed their meters for no fault of theirs.

“This is daylight robbery, because I am sure nothing went wrong with the meters as we have our vending records intact. Nobody bypassed the meter and fortunately they did not say it was tampered with,” he explained.

The situation is not just in Wuse alone. Around Jabi, Daily Trust got more complaints from occupants of an estate.

“They came as usual to inspect houses in the estate and the next thing is that they said four or more meters are faulty and they removed them and had the occupants placed on estimated bill,” said Jibril Salihu, a resident of the estate.

According to another resident, he was handed a bill of N70,000 for just one month for his house after the AEDC officials removed the meters. “That was very outrageous because I don’t consume up to N20,000 a month while vending with the meter since we turn off appliances when we are not at home, but they brought N70,000 each for the affected houses.”

The resident said when he contacted the officials, they insisted that the bill was right as they were following the capped estimated billing order by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) which allows the DisCos to charge a fixed amount for a particular area which is without meter.

Another consumer, Moses Okon, said a similar thing happened to him at Mabushi. “My apartment has been placed on an estimated bill pending Replacement of my meter by AEDC two months ago. After nearly two months, the officials brought a bill of N40,000 without explaining whether it is for two months or one month.

“I had to present the capped template to the AEDC office insisting that I would not pay beyond the N10,000 vending I do every month, or they should return my meter,” said Okon.

However, Daily Trust, found that the Service Based Tariff (SBT) template of AEDC released in September 2020 indicates that Jabi area in Abuja is marked as an area that residential customers without meters should be charged for a maximum of 374 kilowatts hour (kwh) of electricity supply every month or 12.5kwh daily at N47.72/kwh rate.

This means that an unmetered residential customer would pay N17,847.28 and another N1,339 as 7.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) amounting to N19,186.28. However, the R2 customers who complained said they have been billed at N70,000 monthly which is N50,813 higher than the allowed capped bill in Jabi area.

In the Wuse area of Abuja, residential customers are expected to get a supply of 405kwh every month which is about 13.5kwh electricity supply daily at N49.75/kwh rate. It means that such customers if they do not have meters, would have to pay N20,148.75 and another N1,511 as 7.5% VAT which equals to N21,659.75 monthly estimated bill. However, Daily Trust received complaints of customers being brought bills of over N30,000, about N9,000 higher by AEDC officials.

For the Mabushi axis which is billed the same way as the nearby Gwarinpa, residential customers pay for 364kwh every month at N47.72/kwh. That would be N17,370.08 with 7.5% VAT of N 1,303 which will total N18,672.8 per month. But a customer said he got a bill of over N40,000 after his meter was removed by AEDC officials.

When contacted for a formal response on the complaints raised by the electricity consumers in Abuja, the spokesman of AEDC, Mr Oyebode Fadipe, confirmed some of such complaints. He said: “What we have seen in some instances, is that customers themselves even complain that their meter is faulty and when the meter is faulty it means that the meter cannot function again. We retrieve the meter and pending when the meter is replaced so that we don’t take the customers out completely, we place the customer on capped billing which is a NERC-guided billing methodology.

“In fact, it is not even profitable to us [AEDC] because we have seen instances where the capped billing is lower than their normal vending [with meter].  So, it is now incumbent on us to make sure that we speedily replace the meter so that that gap that we are losing we quickly close it,” Fadipe explained.

Asked why some of the consumers have bills higher than the ‘capped bill’, the spokesman said: “It will depend on whether it is Maximum Demand (MD) bill or non-MD billing. We could also have a situation where we would want to investigate such cases but the number is quite negligible.” However, the order on Capped Estimated Bills titled: ORDER No/NERC/197/2020, stipulates that no MD customers should pay bill on the estimated methodology provided that the DisCo did not provide meters for such premises since 2017. Most hotels are placed on maximum demand with residential customers (such as the cases raised) marked as Non-MD customers under the DisCo.

On how AEDC would end these complaints, Mr Fadipe said: “We are hoping that as soon as this national mass metering programme commences again, we will have that closed. Although, there is the ongoing Meter Asset Provider (MAP) side of the metering scheme which consumers can take advantage of by paying and then we make a refund through energy credit over a period of time, again as specified by the regulator.

“But they have the opportunity of deciding which of the metering platforms they want to use. No DisCo is allowed to say this is the one that a customer must use as it has been democratized,” the spokesman stated.