• Angry Nigerians lampoon NERC for condoning DisCos’ fraudulent billing, stealing from customers
• We’re penalizing DisCos for infractions, says NERC
By Enyeribe Ejiogu, Cosmas Omegoh (Lagos), Noah Ebije (Kaduna), Emmanuel Adeyemi (Lokoja), Lucky Ighomuaye (Benin) and Jude Chinedu (Enugu)
Every day, the crisis in Nigeria’s electricity sector gets worse, leaving Nigerians who cannot afford to run petrol or diesel generators frustrated and angry. Even those who currently power their homes and business places with generators are also privately gnashing their teeth.
They just grit their teeth, cut back on other expenses to be able to buy petrol or diesel for the generators and then pass on the extra costs incurred to other people who need their services in one way or the other, and the cycle of transferring the pains continues.
When the issue is not the collapse of the national grid, which incidentally happens per second, per second, as the people jocularly characterise the problem in the local parlance (taking a cue from O’Level Physics) the more frequent issue is the agonising, stressful and sometimes traumatic experience that customers pass through at the hands of the electricity distribution companies.
At every turn, customers are lamenting and cursing power distribution companies, accusing them of short-changing them. The grouse of the people is like the size of Kilimanjaro Mountain and has multiple manifestations. It is either they were placed in Band A and are charged very high tariffs and supplied far less electric power than what they are charged or they don’t get supplies for donkey’s days and are still compelled to pay for what they didn’t consume.
The other category are people who paid for prepaid meters and have been waiting for several months without the precious meters being supplied, installed and connected to the distribution grid, to save them from the pain of monthly outrageous electricity bills.
For others, it is having a technical fault on the power distribution lines that takes days and sometimes weeks to resolve. Everyone has one complaint or the other to give. People are sulking. Not one person is happy with the trend of power supply in their community.
Even more annoying and frustrating is the poor response they get when they report their plight to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which is almost like hitting one’s head against a rock.
As it is with NERC so it is with the customer care units of the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), who often show no empathy for the suffering customers, who accuse the regulator of being in bed with the DisCos that torment them with poor service, frequent blackouts, fraudulent billings and exhibit uncaring attitude to the agonizing experience of the customers.
In the face of the accusations, NERC said in a statement made available to Sunday Sun, that it faithfully prioritizes the welfare of electricity consumers, explaining that it was such stance that made it take regulatory action against the DisCos, by sanctioning them appropriately.
The commission said that in the last six months it had fined over 12 DisCos for various offences.
“The fine was contained under the September 2024 Supplementary Order of the Multi Year Tariff Order of 2024.
“A review of the documents showed that Abuja DisCo had the most fines with N1.69 billion followed by Eko DisCo, N1.41billion; Ikeja DisCo was also fined N1.41billion.
“Others include, Jos DisCo with N1.33 billion; Port Harcourt DisCo was fined N1.16 billion; Benin DisCo was fined N804 million; Enugu DisCo, N310 million; Ibadan DisCo, N15 million; Kaduna DisCo, N115 million; Yola DisCo, N54 million; Kano DisCo, N20 million; and Ibadan DisCo, N15 million,” NERC said.
In an order issued on August 30, by NERC, the Vice Chairman of the commission, Musiliu Oseni and Commissioner for Legal, Licensing, and Compliance, Dafe Akpeneye, said that the fine followed a comprehensive investigation into Abuja Electricity Distribution Company’s (AEDC’s) billing practices.
The penalty, NERC noted, was a response to the DisCos’ non-compliance with the previous directives aimed at capping estimated billing for electricity consumers.
“With the measures, DisCos are required to enhance their service delivery and adhere to service-based tariffs. Also, the companies must publish explanations on their websites within 24 hours if they fail to provide a committed level of service on Band A feeders for two consecutive days,” it said, adding that the initiative would bolster the reliability of electricity supply within their service area.
For the long suffering and poorly-served customers of the DisCos, the explanations of NERC came across as what Americans refer to as cold turkey.
Take the case of a Ijedodo, a marshy community tucked in behind the Ojo Military Cantonment, and falls within the service area of the Ikeja Electric Plc, one of the two DisCos operating in Lagos State, which styles itself as the Centre of Excellence.
In what was initially thought of as evidence of good and laudable intention, staff of Ikeja DisCo visited and urged residents of Ijedodo to accept pre-paid meters – perhaps to test the people’s willingness to embrace the device.
And they did. They enjoyed fairly regular power supply. They were later told that they had been placed in Band B.
A little later, things changed. Their bills went through the roof. Those who did not have prepaid meters started receiving outrageous monthly bills. Expectedly, the residents have been crying and kicking, but Ikeja DisCo is not listening.
One of the affected residents, Pa Olalekan, narrated his awful experience.
He told Sunday Sun: “Not long ago, we were enjoying up to 14 hours of power supply daily. Those without prepaid meters were getting between N40,000 and N60,000 monthly.
“Even those of us who had prepaid meters noticed that the rate had climbed. You recharge with N10,000, then within a short while it is all gone.
“Then suddenly we heard that our area had been moved to Band A. And now what we get as bill is out of this world. Our people could not take it. We reasoned that we don’t have stone crushers in our homes to be paying N60,000 to N70,000 monthly. Collectively we marched to the Ijegun Undertaking of Ikeja Electric. They assured us they would do something. But till now, nothing has been done.”
Another consumer in the area, Papa Michael, said several residents after experiencing firsthand the heavy burden of paying astronomical bills, opted to apply for prepaid meters, but they are yet to get it. For them, he indicated, it would be easier to get American visas under the new Donald Trump administration than to get a prepaid meter the normal way.
“We learnt that they are no longer giving out meters. Yes, they might urge you to register for it, but those who did a long time ago are yet to get theirs,” Papa Michael pointed out.
Not far from Ijegun and Ijedodo is another community, Whitesands and the three communities are connected. Sunday Sun gathered that Whitesand is either in Band C or Band D.
Under the Band arrangement, customers are supposed to get between six and eight hours of power supply daily. But that is not the case.
“We sometimes get between four and five hours of supply every two days,” Seye Olumuyiwa, a resident of Whitesands area, said, adding: “Here, only those who paid extra money privately to the staff were given prepaid meters. Those who don’t have prepaid meters are given bills of between N8,000 and N9,000 monthly.
“This month has not ended, but they gave me N8,600 bill. Now look at the irony. For 11 straight days this March, we had no power supply. Yet the bill we received is by far higher than what it used to be in the past months. Why is it so?” he queried, adding “we are merely paying for what we did not consume, yet we are helpless.”
Olumuyiwa noted that once the power company restores supply after starving the area for days, soon after the DisCo will send bills.
Then after two or three days, their field staff will invade the community with their Hilux vehicles and red ladders for mass disconnection exercise.
Another resident, Ekene Obasi, told Sunday Sun that his landlord had been longing to install a prepaid meter, “to avoid the fraudulent billing” but had not been able to succeed in the quest.
“We learnt that Ikeja DisCo officials came to the area to register people for meters. But since then, we have not heard from them. Even those who did that a long time ago have yet to get meters.
“But some people, we learnt, are getting it through the back door, but that costs money. Desperate people pay as much as N60,000 or more to ‘facilitate’ the process, if not your file will be gathering dust in their office for long years. After privately paying the facilitation money privately, the person will still pay between N150,000 and N250,000 for the prepaid meter, depending on the number of phases of the meter the person wants.”
In the Ajah axis of Lagos metropolis, Lakwe, and Abijo are communities in the Lekki-Epe corridor.
They are developing settlements under the Eko Distribution Company (Eko DisCo).
The proximity of the communities to highbrow Lekki have not spared them from the nemesis of lack of power supply.
“Up till this moment, many of the houses are not metered yet. We are given estimated bills,” Ikiale Ehiedu said, adding, “sadly the bills we receive are simply outrageous. We keep paying without getting any real value for our money.
“Two days after they have dropped the bills on your phone, the marketers will be at the door threatening to cut your supply.
“Cumulatively, I don’t get up to 12 hours of power supply every month, yet I’m compelled to pay just like everyone else.
“I never believed it will get this bad with power supply in this country,” he lamented.
OGUN
Unmetered customers under the jurisdiction of the Ibadan Electric Distribution Company (IBEDC), are lamenting over what they described as strange and exploitative practices and poor service delivery by the company. The customers who are mainly new subscribers on the platform expressed shock over the company’s practice of issuing unmetered customers with estimated bills in the first week of the month to cover the whole month, without any regard for actual supply for the month.
One of such customers at Ota area of Ogun State told Sunday Sun how he was jolted when he was issued an estimated bill of N17,450 (VAT inclusive) barely two weeks after he moved into his new apartment while he was yet to be connected to the distribution grid by the company.
The source who identified himself as Mr Sunday Olaonipekun, said that he moved into his newly built apartment in February this year and proceeded to the undertaking unit of the distribution company at Iyana Iyesi area of Ota to apply for a prepaid meter.
“I was informed that I needed to register to get an account with IBEDC before I could begin the process of acquiring a meter and I obliged. I was shocked to receive a bill of N17,450 for the month of March on Wednesday, 12th which I was required to pay up before 16th of March, 2025 to avoid being disconnected.
“Ironically, I was yet to even settle the community electrification dues to enable me to get connected when the bill was brought. When I asked around I was told that that is the practice with IBEDC. My question is: what happens in a situation when there is a major service disruption in a month? Am I still expected to pay for electricity not supplied? That is very strange,” he said.
He, therefore, called on the National Electricity Regulatory Commission to call IBEDC to order and stop the practice.
Meanwhile, some customers on the platform in areas such as Iyana Ilogbo, in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of the state and Onihale, Ilepa and parts of Ifo areas in Ifo Local Government Area of the Ogun State have deplored the poor power situation in the areas.
Multiple sources in the areas said that most communities could barely boast of one hour power supply daily.
A resident at Ilogbo, Aliu Raufu, told Sunday Sun that members of the community could go for several days without having electricity.
He implore the IBEDC to improve power supply to the community.
KADUNA
In Kaduna State, the residents are incensed over the very slow distribution of prepaid meters to customers by the Kaduna Electric Distribution Company (KEDC).
When told about the complaint of the people, the Head, Corporate Communications, Kaduna Electric, Abdulazeez Abdullahi affirmed that the distribution of prepaid meters was in progress in the state.
He said: “Our Managing Director, Umar Abubakar Hashidu, recently launched the installation of free prepaid meters to customers under the Meter Acquisition Programme (MAP) scheme of the federal Government. The scheme was launched at NITR quarters in Kaduna and we have since commenced the installation of prepaid for our customers under select feeders.
“The exercise is expected to be extended to other feeders as more funds are disbursed to vendors and more meters are available. The challenge of meter bypass and tampering are still two major issues we have been battling.
“We remind customers to desist from the acts as there are stiff penalties approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission against perpetrators, including fines and jail term. It is a major act of sabotage that affects the entire electricity value chain”.
Meanwhile, a Kaduna resident, Mr Luka Binniyat expressed his frustration with the present state of power supply service.
He said: “It is apparently clear that the DisCos have no intention of metering all their customers. And this is contrary to the rules of the NERC and the directive of the Federal Government in this regard.
“One would be right to suggest that officials of NERC may have been compromised by these utility companies to turn the other way as customers groan under exploitation of these companies. They consider the directives of the Federal Government on the compulsory metering of electricity consumers as mere cheap talk. Government has no will whatsoever to enforce it.
“I am among the lucky few that have meters. But in the past one month, the electricity rate has quadrupled. Instead of 26 units lasting me a month, it lasts only six days. And yet no one has notified me of any official increase on this rate. It is just vile exploitation carried out with arrogance and impunity.
“Some of us have given up on NERC. Even the NERC forum created by law has been deliberately made non-functional by the lack of any tangible tackling of problems raised by members to the NERC. So despite the billions of subsidy that the electricity companies enjoy, consumers are made to pay unfair rates.”
Another resident, Mr Mordecai Ibrahim said: “The failure to distribute the prepaid meters to every customer is not in the interest of both clients and DisCos.
“At least, if every customer has a prepaid meter, the rate of stealing electricity will be drastically reduced, especially since there is a huge penalty for bypassing. Prepaid meter helps to cut down wastage of power supply because customers will always put off the switches once they are not using electricity.”
Alhaji Sani Usman Rilwan, another resident, offered his views: “The problem with the DisCos, not only in Kaduna, but across the country, is that there is no steady power supply. But at the end of the month they will bring bill even for the one that you did not consume. Like in my community of Rigasa in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna, those not using prepaid meters are billed N5,000 every month for the electricity consumed.”
KOGI
Customers of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) in Kogi State want the Bola Tinubu administration to give true meaning to Renewed Hope Agenda by urgently moving to address the extremely high cost of getting prepaid metres, which they said has gone beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerians.
Investigations by Sunday Sun revealed that a one-phase prepaid meter is sold to customers at N140,000 while the two-phase meter goes for N245,000 while the customers pay N350,000, for three-phase meter.
A cross section of customers said that in spite of the hike in the prices, the prepaid meters are still not readily available to customers who had paid for them a long time ago.
A customer in Okene, the central axis of the state, Abdullahi Jubril, bemoaned how he struggled to pay for the prepaid meter in October 2023, but was yet to get it almost two years after because of what he called “bureaucracy and sharp practices on the part of the AEDC staff.”
Also Femi Ayodele, a customer in Kabba also described the stages customers are made to pass through to collect a prepaid meter as “burdensome and time-consuming,” adding that “Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission seems to be docile in Kogi State.”
For Hajia Ramatu, a petty trader at Adankolo Quarters, Lokoja, and many other customers, the price of a prepaid meter, which is supposed to be given to customers free of charge (as it is sponsored by the Federal Government) is too exorbitant and out of the reach of ordinary Nigerians coupled with constant irregular supply of power.
Her words: “Honestly speaking, the Federal Government is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. The cost of food is so high, to eat three square meals is a problem, house rent and school fees have been jacked up, electricity tariffs jacked up, yet for three to four days in a week, we can hardly use light for two hours, this is too bad.”
Sunday Sun also learnt that in some parts of the state like Ibaji, Aiyetoro, Ayingba, Dekina and Ogwualawo, among others, power supply by AEDC is almost non-existent, not to talk of having prepaid meters.
When Sunday Sun reporter contacted the AEDC office in Lokoja for reaction to the multiple allegations, he was tossed up and down as there was no official willing to speak on behalf of the organization, as they claimed that only officials at the Abuja headquarters could comment on the issue.
Nevertheless, an official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that AEDC now has enough prepaid meters ready for customers who wish to be metered.
He said that the cost of the prepaid meters has been reduced from N160,000 for single phase to N140,000.
EDO
Edo State is covered by the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), and customers in the state are finding it funny in getting their houses metered.
One of them, Comrade Edosa Okunbor, told the harrowing tale of what his cousin suffered at the hands of BEDC, in his desire to get a prepaid meter.
He said that his cousin went through a lot of stress before her prepaid meter was fixed.
His words: “Actually, she applied for prepaid meter and was asked to pay into an account set up by the DisCo. After making payment, she was told that a technical team would come to survey the environment and assess the house before her payment would be approved.
“It took them almost two months to do that and after they had done the assessment, they still refused to come. Each time she called their office, the officials kept promising to come, saying that meter installation exercise had reached her area as they were still doing enumeration. In other words, they were conducting a census of people who needed prepaid meters in that area and until they get a certain number of requests, they would not just come and install one meter.
“So, this dragged on for more than three months before they eventually came to install the meter. And when they installed the meter, it is at your own cost. You are going to bear the transport fare, the cost of refreshment and other things. So, this was the experience of my cousin.”
While acknowledging that the Federal Government actually directed that prepaid meters be provided to the people and it went ahead to fund the DisCos for this purpose, the government should put a bite to the directive.
“That is the issue. If you just give directive and go to sleep, trust Nigerians, they will exploit the situation to their own advantage. So, the Discos are taking advantage of the vulnerability of everybody to stand up for their rights to exploit customers. So, I expect the Federal Government to put a sharp bite to its directive. Otherwise, it will be seen as a toothless bulldog that can only bark and not bite,” he said.
ENUGU
Like other customers within the coverage area of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), residents of Enugu State are voicing frustrations over the failure of the DisCo to provide prepaid meters for consumers.
Residents are urging the authorities to investigate the alleged bribery and overhaul the prepaid meter distribution process to ensure fair access for all consumers.