"Benefits Of "Crazy Billing" By PHCN -Reaon Behind Electricity Problems
Nigerians have welcome the introduction of the pre-paid meters with open arms but have had to gasp and groan when they could only see it and could not have it. The management of PHCN made various announcements that the equipment is available but yet many consumers have cried out that they still could not procure them after having paid the statutory connection fee of N25,000 for single phase and N55,000 for three-phase as the case may be.
A consumer who lives in Surulere has this to say: the so called prepaid meters are nowhere to be seen around here. Take a walk from this Itire down to Ijesha, I tell you there is hardly a house that can boast of a pre-paid meter. We have heard with it you can actually monitor how much you spend on electricity but here, there is no such luxury. Look at the situation now, in the last five 5 months we have been having electricity for just about three-four hours per day and some days there would be no power supply at all but our bills have been almost constant. PHCN brings a bill of not less than N5,000 per month. There was a month our transformer was out for 16 days, meaning there was no electricity for two weeks but when it came to the bills nothing reflected on it. The amount was as constant as ever. PHCN still brought a bill of over N4,000
Even the NERC boss has accused the management of PHCN of willfully thwarting its own meter deployment scheme in a bid to exploit electricity consumers through its practice of crazy billing. That tendency, he noted, accounts for cases of people in residential areas who pay more than companies. According to him, Even though they have meters, the distribution companies dont go and read these meters. Other consumers, residential and industrial, who had paid sums as high as between N23,000 and N40,000 per unit of prepaid meters since 2009 have yet to be provided with the meters, while PHCN has chosen to operate in total disregard for decency and statutes.
Those who are lucky to have the pre-paid meters have been singing songs of praise for the scheme. A consumer, Mr. Adeolubodun who lives in Mushin said the PHCN prepaid meter is a blessing to me. Apart from the fact that it allows you to budget your money well it also cut off having to deal with unscrupulous PHCN staff who ask for money for all sorts of services. Before I acquire this meter I was paying between 3,000 to 7, 000 every month but now with a card of 7,000 I can enjoy power supply for more than 6 months
But if the recent pronouncement of PHCN through its Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, penultimate Thursday is anything to be believed the pre-paid meters may soon reach the homes.
Principal Manager, Public Affairs of the company, Pekun Adeyanju, has said prepaid metres are available for electricity customers who desire to have them. While reacting to allegations by some customers that the organisation is deliberately hoarding the meter to perpetuate estimated billing, Adeyanju said that the PPM is a priority of the management and that 7,000 are being deployed to customers all over the network of the company monthly. In fact, the CEO, Engr. O.C. Akamnonu, has directed the Customer Service Department to increase deployment to 10,000 on a monthly basis.
Nigerians have welcome the introduction of the pre-paid meters with open arms but have had to gasp and groan when they could only see it and could not have it. The management of PHCN made various announcements that the equipment is available but yet many consumers have cried out that they still could not procure them after having paid the statutory connection fee of N25,000 for single phase and N55,000 for three-phase as the case may be.
A consumer who lives in Surulere has this to say: the so called prepaid meters are nowhere to be seen around here. Take a walk from this Itire down to Ijesha, I tell you there is hardly a house that can boast of a pre-paid meter. We have heard with it you can actually monitor how much you spend on electricity but here, there is no such luxury. Look at the situation now, in the last five 5 months we have been having electricity for just about three-four hours per day and some days there would be no power supply at all but our bills have been almost constant. PHCN brings a bill of not less than N5,000 per month. There was a month our transformer was out for 16 days, meaning there was no electricity for two weeks but when it came to the bills nothing reflected on it. The amount was as constant as ever. PHCN still brought a bill of over N4,000
Even the NERC boss has accused the management of PHCN of willfully thwarting its own meter deployment scheme in a bid to exploit electricity consumers through its practice of crazy billing. That tendency, he noted, accounts for cases of people in residential areas who pay more than companies. According to him, Even though they have meters, the distribution companies dont go and read these meters. Other consumers, residential and industrial, who had paid sums as high as between N23,000 and N40,000 per unit of prepaid meters since 2009 have yet to be provided with the meters, while PHCN has chosen to operate in total disregard for decency and statutes.
Those who are lucky to have the pre-paid meters have been singing songs of praise for the scheme. A consumer, Mr. Adeolubodun who lives in Mushin said the PHCN prepaid meter is a blessing to me. Apart from the fact that it allows you to budget your money well it also cut off having to deal with unscrupulous PHCN staff who ask for money for all sorts of services. Before I acquire this meter I was paying between 3,000 to 7, 000 every month but now with a card of 7,000 I can enjoy power supply for more than 6 months
But if the recent pronouncement of PHCN through its Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company, penultimate Thursday is anything to be believed the pre-paid meters may soon reach the homes.
Principal Manager, Public Affairs of the company, Pekun Adeyanju, has said prepaid metres are available for electricity customers who desire to have them. While reacting to allegations by some customers that the organisation is deliberately hoarding the meter to perpetuate estimated billing, Adeyanju said that the PPM is a priority of the management and that 7,000 are being deployed to customers all over the network of the company monthly. In fact, the CEO, Engr. O.C. Akamnonu, has directed the Customer Service Department to increase deployment to 10,000 on a monthly basis.
No comments:
Post a Comment