By Olatunde Dodondawa
Nigerians have called on the Federal Government to establish a metering agency that will be responsible for metering only. The calls become imperative due to the recent hike in electricity tariff without improvement in power supply while many customers have no control over their energy consumption due to poor metering schemes by the distribution companies.
According to some Nigerians who spoke with Borderless News, metering of customers should not have been the responsibility of the distribution companies (Discos) but rather an agency that will work with meter manufacturers (meter vendors) whose responsibility is to sell their products to Nigerians who are willing and ready to pay for the meters.
They said this will in turn prompt the Discos to make their product (electricity) to the metered customers; it will be a win-win for meter manufacturers, the Discos, and electricity customers.
“The Federal Government should stop subsidizing Discos and Gencos. It should rather subsidise local meter manufacturing companies and create an agency saddled with the responsibilities of metering homes in every state. The agency should be independent of the Discos.
“The Discos are not interested in metering homes because it is an avenue to defraud consumers with estimated billing. The metering agency will have the sole responsibility of installing meters. It will be illegal for a consumer to apply for meter from the agency and not be metered within 60 days. Anything short of this will not end the sufferings of Nigerians who are being defrauded of billions of naira monthly by the Discos,” Mr. Nicholas Ugochukwu said.
Another Nigerian who simply identified himself as Kunle begged President Muhammadu Buhari to “please help poor Nigerians against this ripoff. My position has always been that Nigerians don’t mind paying more for what they used because we already pay more by buying fuel to power generators. What Nigerians have a problem with is paying more for what they di not use. This is why metering must come before tariff hikes.
“I will apply for a meter through the metering agency that gets it directly from the meter manufacturers and install. I don’t have any business with the Discos, no need for estimated billing because no meter, no light.
“Pressure will now be on the metering agency by both meter manufacturers and Discos because the manufacturers want to sell meters and the Discos want to sell electricity. But current arrangement only favours the Discos because they make consumers pay what they didn’t consume via estimated billing.”
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