By Bisola Adeyemo
Residents of Osogbo, the Osun State capital have denounced the extortion from electric meter installers during the concluded National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
The NMMP, which is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Distribution Companies (DisCos) is in collaboration with local meter manufacturers to provide electricity meters to all unmetered customers.
Many of the customers lamented that installers were demanding the sum of N2,000 from them before they would install the prepaid meters.
A customer, Alhaja Sidikat Adeyanju stated that what made her complain about a meter was that she was having difficulty recharging her old metre.
According to her, she had to recharge her meter every month from Ibadan, a problem which she stated arose because the contractor who supplied the meter obtained it from Ibadan.
She explained that it was her landlord who got in touch with the contractor and she was the one bearing the burden and since she could not stand being disconnected at the end of every month she had to complain to the nearest Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) outlet nearest to her.
“They placed me on direct and I was paying a certain amount every month for electricity consumption.
“When they came for the installation, I was not even aware. It was a neighbour of mine that called my attention that the installers were in the locality.
“When they got to my house, I was asked to pay the sum of N2,000 to the installer before the meter would be installed. I was initially surprised but when the young man that was supposed to install insisted on collecting the sum before installing the meter, I had to hurriedly get the cash to give him.”
Another customer, Pastor Kayode, stated that he too had to part with N2,000 before the metre was installed in his compound.
He revealed to Daily Post that when he enquired further, he was told the installation was in phases.
“The first phase was for those whose meters were faulty. The second phase is for those using the old black analogue meters, the third stage is for those who want to separate meters and the last phase is for those who want their own personal meters,” he said.
Femi Lawal alleged that he confirmed that the meters distributed in Osun State came with strange and exorbitant bills.
While wondering how IBEDC generated a bill for a consumer who has no postpaid account with them, he accused the distribution company of giving consumers bills of N214,000 and more on a prepaid meter, an accusation which could not be substantiated as at press time.
Also, based on several complaints by IBEDC customers, a socio-mobilisation group, Urban Alert, has disclosed that it had written a Freedom Of Information (FOI) letter to the Nigerian Electricity Regulations Commission (NERC).
According to its Programme Officer, Ladeji Alabi, in their initial FOI letter to NERC, the Commission affirmed that 24,446 prepaid metres will be distributed in Osun under Phase Zero, while the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company was quoted in some sections of the media that it would distribute 10,000.
Alabi ,therefore, assured that the new FOI Letter sent to NERC will clear the air on the methodology for distribution, mitigate extortion and confirm the mechanism put in place to ensure transparency and accountability in the distribution of the free meters.
