The Senate on Tuesday directed the
National Electricity Regulatory Commission to abolish the monthly fixed
charges being collected from electricity consumers by the distribution
companies.
The resolution followed a motion titled,
“Unfair trade practices of electricity distribution companies in
Nigeria”, sponsored by Senator Sam Egwu and Senator David Umaru of Niger
East Senatorial District.
The senators accused the Discos of
conspiracy to rip off innocent customers despite epileptic supply of
electricity to their homes and business premises.
They urged NERC to inquire into numerous
complaints before it in line with the provisions of Section 74 (1) (b)
of the Power Reform Act.
The senators also directed the Discos to discontinue the practice of making consumers to pay for meters, poles and transformers.
They, however, said that where the
consumers had purchased those items, they should give notice of the
purchase to the Discos to enable them to recover the expenses from
subsequent consumption of electricity.
Apart from this, they directed NERC to be reporting its activities periodically to the Senate.
Egwu
had noted that NERC was established to, among others, license and
regulate persons engaged in the generation, transmission, system
operation distribution and trading of electricity.
According to him, the same NERC was also
empowered by Section 32(1) (d) of its enabling legal regime to ensure
that the prices charged those licensed are fair to customers and are
sufficient to allow the firms to finance their activities.
The lawmaker, however, noted that the
Discos since the beginning of their operations in Nigeria had been
ripping off consumers through fixed charges and bulk metering across the
country.
He said, “The high tariff being charged
by the Discos does not make provision for payment of only electricity
that is consumed even though bills are dished out without commensurate
services being offered by the distribution companies.”
He also said, “This billing system is
capable of ruining the economic power of most small scale businesses
that require electricity to function.
“I am concerned that even those that
have this prepaid meters are being billed a fixed rate of about N750 a
month, irrespective of whether or not the person consumes electricity.”
Egwu therefore urged the Senate to mandate NERC to inquire into numerous complaints before it by consumers.
All the senators who contributed to the debate condemned the activities of the electricity distribution companies.
For instance, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, (Peoples Democratic Party, Bayelsa East), described the Discos as a big scam.
The senator lamented that his firms were
being charged an average of N20m monthly on electricity despite the
poor supply, thus forcing the management to use generators most of the
time.
He said, “Despite the high tariff,
consumers receive little or no electricity. This is a fraudulent act.
The Federal Government and the companies are extorting Nigerians and
they are all guilty.”
Senator Danjuma Goje, (All Progressives
Congress, Gombe Central), and a PDP member from Akwa Ibom South, Senator
Nelson Effiong, advocated the review of the Power Reform Act in order
to address inadequacies discovered in the Act.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki,
lamented that Nigerians were not feeling the impact of the electricity
firms despite the huge sums they were charging their customers.
He urged the firms and the relevant
agencies supervising them to be alive to their responsibilities in the
interest of the consumers.
No comments:
Post a Comment