Extortionists on the prowl

• Abuja electricity consumers groan, lose N2.5bn to meter installers

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From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

Installers of electricity meters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and environs are on the prowl, extorting unsuspecting and innocent consumers, just as the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), embarks on distribution of meters.

The installers, Daily Sun gathered, charge N35,000 for a three-phase meter and N20,000 for one-phase meter. But in places where the meters are installed on poles, the consumers pay a sum, depending on the distance between the poles and the house plus the installation fee.

The National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP), aimed at distributing meters free to electricity customers, has suddenly turned into a bazaar for meter installers who capitalise on the innocence of the consumers to rip them off.

So far, AEDC has distributed over 70,000 meters in 12 months, in which the installers must have extorted over N2,450,000,000 from unsuspecting customers.

Managing director, AEDC, Mr. Chijioke Okwuokenye, warned perpetrators of the act to desist: “If they are caught, they will face the music. Meters are free and anybody charging money to install a meter is doing so at his own risk.” He vowed to “recover every kobo from the extortioners,” if any case of extortion got to his table.

While some consumers resisted the installers, others have fallen victim. They paid the money even though they knew it was free. Abuchi who paid N30,000 for a three-phase meter said: “I resisted it at first because I knew that meters were free.

“But they refused and went away. For two days, they did not come back until I called them to come and install it. Honestly, I was tired of the extortion by AEDC’s estimated billing system.

“What annoyed me most was when we did not have power for three months. The day AEDC restored power, it brought a N61,000 bill. And you must pay or your light would be disconnected. Another time, when our transformer was bad, we were without electricity for months.

“After we contributed money and fixed the transformer, AEDC brought a bill of N20,000 each for all the houses on estimated bills. Having considered this anomaly, I decided to collect the meter at that cost. It was at a great cost but I needed to be free from unwanted estimated bills.”

A landlady, Ihechiluru, aka Mama Oluoma, told Daily Sun: “When they came and demanded money before installing meter, I told them I had no money for installation. Government said installation is free. After one or two weeks, they came to install it free of charge. In order to punish me, they disconnected me from the pole after one week. It was cheaper for me to reconnect than paying N20,000. I fixed it back with N10,000.”

Pa Rasheed said after paying for a meter the installers took his meter to another person. Since then his meter was not working. He had to go back to the AEDC branch to complain and pay more money before they were able to rectify it.