Gbajabiamila reacts to
electricity consumers’ fight with DISCOs officials over ‘crazy’ bills
Aspirant for the
9th House of Representatives Speakership, Femi Gbajabiamila, has reacted to
clashes between staff of the electricity distribution companies and their
customers.
Several video clips
have emerged online where distribution companies’ officials are seen being
beaten by angry customers over estimated billings.
Gbajabiamila, while
noting this, stated that the House have completed passage of the bill to
address estimated billing.
He tweeted, “In the
last few days I have watched clips of distasteful exchange of blows between
staff of electricity distribution companies and their customers over ‘crazy’
estimated bills.
“I foresaw this
situation earlier hence my sponsorship of the Bill to criminalize estimated
billing.
“We have completed
passage of this Bill in the @HouseNGR to address estimated billing, energy
theft etc but for whatever reason it’s still in the @NGRSenate awaiting
concurrence and passage.
“I trust my
colleagues and I will ensure the speedy passage of the Bill in the 9th
Assembly.”
Don’t pay for electricity
after 2 weeks of outage – NERC announces new regulations (See details)
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has asked Nigerians
not to pay for meter service charge and the electricity bill if there is outage
for more than two weeks.
NERC said that the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulation has stopped the
electricity Distribution Companies from collecting energy and service charges
after two weeks of power outage.
Its chairman, Prof. James Momoh, broke the news at the Abuja Electricity
Distribution Company (AEDC) launch of the MAP in Abuja on Friday.
The General Manager, Finance and Management Services, Abudukadir Shetima,
who represented the Chairman, said that with the MAP regulation, the meters
must be installed not later than 10 days after payment.
According to him, should the DisCo refuse to replace a malfunctioning
meter after two days, the customer is not expected to make any payment.
He said that NERC, DisCos and the customers have their deadline to
provide the meters to the customers at the required time.
He said the regulation was designed in a manner that regards the consumer
as the king in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) value chain.
The customer, he said, is expected to have the best services.
He added, “Deadlines were provided in the regulation for the DisCos, even
the commission so that we don’t delay so that the customers get the service at
the time that it is required.
“For instance, if a meter is about to be installed, it must be installed
within 10 days of making payment. There will be sanctions if that deadline is
not met.
“Number two, to ensure there will be sanction, the MAP has been asked to
provide a bank performance guarantee that will be called upon. So they will
lose money if they delay in providing the meters even by one day.
“Number two, if the meters get bad, they will be replaced by the MAP
without any payment for the entire ten years period.
“If the meters don’t work they must be replaced within two days, if they
are not replaced within two days, the customer will not make the monthly
customers service charge payment. That payment will be seized.
“Another part of the regulation is that if there is a prolonged outage
and they are out of electricity for months, in addition to other measure that
the commission is taking to address those kind of scenarios, the customer will
not pay for the meter service charge and will not even pay for the electricity
if there is outage for more than two weeks.”
Listing the objective of the regulation, Momoh said the first important
objective is the removal of estimated billing in order to remove the
controversies around it.
He added: “The customers are happy to make the payment. The second issue
is revenue assurance, happy customers will be willing to pay.
“Nigerians are willing to pay for the services they can get so that there
will be revenue assurance and that will impact on the industry as a whole.
Currently, the revenues in the industry are nit sufficient to enable
investments and better services. So, it is like a vicious circle and this this
metering is intended to correct that problem.”
Speaking, the AEDC Managing Director, Engr. Ernest Mupwaya, revealed that
altogether the company has planned to meter the customers in its franchise
areas with 900,000 meters.
He said that bearing in mind that the customers would increase, the meter
vendors would also cater for their metering.
He said: “In all, 900,000 customs have been scheduled for metering in
AEDC franchise area in the first instance. Being a moving target, we are aware
that the number may increase and as it does, the vendors will take them along.”
Power Supply: Nigerians to experience
major 'darkness' as national grid collapses again
Once again, Nigerians are groaning in darkness after the national
electricity grid suffered a major failure on Wednesday, seizing power supply to
homes across the country.
The collapse has seen Nigeria’s electricity output dwindle to a meagre
230 megawatts or less as against the 4,032 megawatts national average that
was generated a day before on May 7.
At least two power generation engineers who spoke with Premium Times
said the faults were still being traced as of Thursday afternoon, and power
situation might not return to normal for another 72 hours.
The National Control Centre acknowledged the crisis to electricity
distributors on Wednesday evening, promising to get the system back on within a
few hours. The centre did not say what triggered the collapse or how deep
it was. While some distribution precincts received a few megawatts of
power from the national grid that were barely enough to light a few bulbs,
other parts of the country were plunged into total darkness.
The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, which distributes energy to
homes in Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger and the federal capital, received only 20
megawatts from the national grid for several hours on Wednesday. It was late in
the evening that the supply peaked at 70 megawatts.
The four contiguous states have at least 13 million people between
them. At about 5:51 a.m. Thursday, the supply dropped again from its 70 megawatts
highs, according to power distribution officials. The officials spoke under
anonymity to avoid being sanctioned by federal regulators. The Yola Electricity
Distribution Company, which feeds most of Nigeria’s northeastern flank,
received zero allocation, according to a disclaimer on its Twitter handle
Thursday morning.
In June 2018, the country was thrown into darkness after the national
grid suffered acute gas shortages to fire turbines. The TCN responded swiftly
to the crisis, but it took more than 72 hours to resolve the failure.
Nigerians Spend Less On Fuel As They Enjoy Better Power Supply Under Buhari - Fashola
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has insisted
that Nigerians have been enjoying constant power supply under the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
While speaking during the April 2018 edition of the monthly power sector
operators’ meeting in Umuahia, Abia state, the minister noted that Nigerians
had been spending less money on alternative power sources, such as fuel for
generators, because the country’s power situation had improved.
According Fashola, well-meaning Nigerians were aware of the improvement,
noting that the government was doing its best to work harder for them and
improve service delivery.
He said, “We are on a journey to a destination of promise and eventual
prosperity and I use this occasion to salute the efforts and contributions of
all those who have brought us this far.
“Even if those who were most vocal in condemnation when the situation
appeared very dire are now uttering some muted acknowledgment that it has
improved, we must continue to draw inspiration from well-meaning and right
thinking Nigerians who were gracious enough to publicly acknowledge that: they
are saving some money from diesel they used to spend for generators; they are
running their generators for fewer hours; and they are getting comparably more
power than before.
“It is because of those gracious and well-meaning and right thinking
Nigerians that we must dig deeper, work harder and be more determined to
improve service delivery.”
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has insisted
that Nigerians have been enjoying constant power supply under the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.