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FCCPC: Electricity Industry Bogged by Insufficient Metering, Billing Inaccuracies

Dike Onwuamaeze
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Mr. Tunji Bello, has declared that the Nigeria’s electricity industry is grappling “with persistent issues such as insufficient metering, billing inaccuracies and infrastructure challenges, all of which require urgent and collaborative resolutions.”
Bello made this declaration at the opening of the “FCCPC Electricity Consumer Forum” in Ota, Ogun State, which urged consumers to “come and be heard or get on-the-spot response to your complaint concerning billings, metering, transformer, disconnection, customer service and other electricity issues.”
Bello, whose speech at the forum was read by the Principal Consumer and Business Education Officer, FCCPC, Ms. Bridget Etim, said that the event “presents non-adversarial forum for dialogue” that would enable “consumers to gain clarity on their rights and responsibilities while Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company’s (IBEDC) case workers will be available to address grievances on-the-spot.
“This aligns with our core mandate to ensure that consumer protection is practical, accessible and responsive.”
He added that at the heart of the FCCPC’s interventions is the recognition that electricity consumers are entitled to fairness, transparency and accountability.
Speaking during the forum, the Zonal Community Development Committee Chairman for Ado-Odo Ota, Mr. Olaolapo Olatunji, said that his community is at the event with the hope of obtaining justice for all the sufferings they have experienced in the hands of the IBEDC.
Olatunji said that his community had been experiencing poor services such as low supply of electricity, excessive billings, etc. in spite of procuring over 200 transformers and other items that would enable the IBEDC to improve power supply.
He said: “We are expecting justice here today from this FCCPC’s visit. But if we do not get it, we will take it up to the Presidency.”
“Electricity matters dominate our quarterly community meetings. IBEDC do not even have kits for their staff. Not even ladders to climb the poles. Any time they work for us, we will rent ladders for them put other things that we do for them. The cheating is too much. It is enormous. The government should come to our aid.
“IBEDC has not given us a single transformer in the past three years. I stand to be corrected on this.
“But if their area of coverage is too wide for them, let them downsize it. We have Ikeja and Eko DISCOs within this local government. Agbara axis is under our locality. There are some parts of Itele that is using Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC).
“If we want to migrate we will to other distribution companies. But we believe in the FCCPC and we are expecting justice from them. But if they fail we know what to do.”
However, the Head, Ogun Region of IBEDC, Mr. Abdulrasaq Jimoh, told journalists that the peculiar challenge of the electricity distribution company is energy theft, which prevent the company from recovering the cost of energy it has delivered to customers.
Jimoh alleged that energy theft has gone digital as some customers now use software to suppress their actual electricity consumption.
He said: “They have digitalised energy theft at a higher level. Energy theft is on rampant and increasing in leaps and bounds every day. People are out smarting us. Do you believe that there are customers that will not do physical bypass but use software to program their meters in such a manner that it will reduce the quantity of energy they are consuming?”
He added: “DISCOs are unable to recover about 60 per cent of energy supplied to consumers because of energy theft. Only few Nigerians believed that they need to pay for the energy they have consumed.”
Jimoh also enjoined those who are confident that they have been over billed to report their cases to regulators and provide evidence of such billings for refund.
He also said that there are stipulated processes in the law for communities or individuals that wish to purchase transformers and other related items to follow, adding that the problem is that communities never adhere to these processes.
He said: “Ideally communities are not supposed to buy transformers. The law states that they should get the distribution company and regulators involved and also brief their lawyers before purchasing transformers. But communities will not do this.
“There are laws guiding investments into an electricity company. Those that used their money to buy meters are repaid back with energy supplies equivalent to the money they have spent on acquiring meters.
“But communities will not come to discos before buying and installing transformers. So, are they being guided by the laws and regulations?”
Jimoh said that customers have been threatening them for years that they would migrate to other distribution companies but have not done so, because they are getting better supply from us. He said: “Ibadan is performing more than the ones they intend to join. Go and look the book. People that migrated earlier to IKEDC later came back to us. What other DISCOs are billing is higher than IBEDC’s billing.”