From their inception the Discos have been dogged by - the
“mistrustful atmosphere”.From battles with Labour Unions ,to allegations that
Power assets were handed over to government officials and cronies while
bypassing more competent firms; it has been an unending tale. Some commentators
have gone as far as to allude a conspiracy in Discos deliberately not metering
customers.
The now exorcised contentious fixed charge which has been
referred to by consumers as “illegal and extortionary” , continued estimated
billings and failure to supply pre-paid meters have been met with displeasure and ire by Nigerians. Claims
that the Discos are fleecing Nigerians by making undue profit from inefficient service delivered and
collecting free money for service not rendered has been vehement.
In October,2013, the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity
Regulatory Commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, speaking on behalf of the government stated that - “The new PHCN successor
companies should see metering of all their customers immediately they take over
ownership of the PHCN companies as their major priority to avoid bills
estimation”. He said this,while speaking at a two-day workshop organised by the
NERC for the successor companies and other stakeholders in Abuja, adding that
arbitrary billing by power firms would not be tolerated..
This is 2016 and the “first line charge of metering customers
have been epileptic at best in its implementation”. Notwithstanding the challenges
of the Discos, they must take up the gauntlet and urgently go into overdrive to
meter customers.Until such a time as this is done substantially and electricity
efficiency is improved it will be remiss to apply increments of any kind under
any disguise.
It has not been all bad and can indeed be better.The Discos
have been a breath of fresh air and have done enough even now to substantiate
my premise that -“Government has no business being in business”. If only for
the customer service delivery alone that has been greatly improved,at least
from Ikeja electric,which I can attest to,it can only get better but all
stakeholders must do their part.
Government must not let the Discos carry the ball alone.The
Discos face dire “operational challenges”.The principal component in the non-realization
of the supposed gains of the privatisation of the power sector is revenue and
funding challenges.
In December 2015, at an interactive session called by the
Senate Committee on Privatization, Director General Bureau of the BPE, Mr.
Benjamin Dikki, defended the lapses in the operations of the Discos and Gencos
saying they only get between 70 and 80 per cent of what they generate and hence
find it difficult to recoup their investments.
He put the blame on government on the power plants’ inefficiency,stating that government had
failed to keep to the terms of agreement it reached with power firms.Dikki, listed
such agreements to include government’s pledge to provide subsidy of N50
billion annually for two years to the investors, a situation he said had made
it impossible for them to accrue revenues.
Government inaction has made it difficult to hold the power
firms accountable for their inability to meet the set targets. “If you tell
them they are not meeting targets, they also will say these are the reasons,”
Dikki, was quoted as saying.
Last I checked, ”Government MDAs were owing the DisCOS
almost N60 Billion, and you have to ask
yourself how any struggling business can make any headway being owed that kind
of money”. Government should start by mandating all MDAs to pay up after all
they do have budgets, don’t they?
Written by
Victor Ikhatalor
Founder of MyTribeNigeria Initiative
twitter.com/MyTribeNigeria
facebook.com/MyTribeNigeria
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