…As Abia women protest against exorbitant bills
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has dislosed that 62.63% of electricity consumers in Nigeria are on estimated billing.
The NERC stated this in the 2019 to Quarter 3, 2020 Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) Key Financial and Operational Data, obtained from its website.
The document showed that only Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) and Ikeja Electric Plc had metered over 50 per cent of their customers as at the review period.
The huge metering gap for electricity customers, according to NERC, remains a key challenge in the industry.
The data showed that out of the 11,841,819 registered electricity customers as at the end of the third quarter of 2020, only 4,425, 628 (37.37 per cent) have been metered.
“Thus, 7, 416,191 representing 62.63 per cent of the registered electricity customers are still on estimated billing,” the document revealed.
The metering status of the DisCos as at September 2020 showed that the Benin DisCo had 47.42 per cent; Abuja, 48.66 per cent; Eko, 51.68 per cent; Ikeja, 51.09 per cent and Enugu, 43.77 per cent.
Others are: Port Harcourt, 39.64 per cent; Ibadan, 27.97 per cent; Jos, 29.04 per cent; Kaduna, 22.56 per cent; Kano, 21.40 per cent and Yola,19.03 per cent.
The Federal government had on October 30, 2020 flagged off the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP) to meet the target of closing the metering gap in the NESI by December 2021.
The programme would assist in reducing collection losses, while at the same time, increasing financial flows to achieve 100 per cent market remittance obligation of the DisCos.
Part of the objectives is the elimination of arbitrary estimated billing, improving network monitoring capability and provision of data for market administration and investment decision-making, the document noted.
Meanwhile, hundreds of women in Uzuakoli, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, on Tuesday, staged a peaceful protest at Uzuakoli office of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) over outrageous bills being given to them.
The protesting women…on Tuesday
The women expressed dissatisfaction with the hike in the electricity bills, arguing that it is unacceptable that people in Uzuakoli would pay N14,000 and N20,000 while their counterparts in Umuahia, the state capital, pay less.
The women appealed to the relevant authorities including the EEDC Enugu head office to address the injustice and unwarranted alleged exploitation being meted out to them.
According to them, they are only peasant farmers and cannot afford the outrageous EEDC bills slammed on them even when they only use electric bulbs for light.
This was even as residents of Umuahia, the Abia State capital, also cried out over the unholy activities of EEDC, lamenting that the electricity company has failed its responsibilities as the citizens are being subjected to total darkness.