By Our Reporter
Customers of the Ikeja Electric Plc who want to buy the new meters cannot do so because of the fluctuating exchange rate of the dollar to the Naira. Naira currently exchanges for between N1,400 – N1, 800/$1
A staff of the Ikeja Electric Plc who wishes to be anonymous explained that it has become virtually impossible for the organization to be able to fix a particular price to the new meters, because of the way the price of the dollar keeps rising against the Naira. Consequently, he said, the company is waiting for the exchange rate to be stabilized before allowing customers in need of meters for their homes to be able to purchase one.
“When that will be we don’t know. For this reason, the portal for the application of new meters have been deactivated (closed), until further notice,” he said.
Mrs. Ifeoma Agabi, who was at the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, at Alausa, Ikeja, to apply for a new meter as her old pre-paid meter has been phased out by the Ikeja Electric Plc, thereby making it difficult for her to load her card to get electric supply, questioned what will be the fate of people like her?
According to the staff of the Ikeja Electric Plc, such consumers of electricity like Ifeoma, and others who may want a new meter for one reason or the other may have to wait indefinitely until all the issues are resolved, or alternatively go for a ‘direct link’, which will result in them receiving an estimated bill at the end of every month, until they are able to get their own private meters.
Many of the consumers have expressed ‘huge’ reservations and skepticism about the prospect of getting estimated bills from Ikeja Electricity Plc. They are of the opinion that estimated bills, is an avenue for the electricity company to rip them off, bringing ‘outrageous’ bills that they never consumed and threatening them to pay up.
“This is one of the reasons I paid handsomely to obtain the old meter, which is now been phased out, in the first place,” Ifeoma Agabi said, adding, “why do they want to force me back there again?”
But, officials of the Ikeja Electricity Plc, have denied that this won’t be the case. According to them, the company is more ‘customer friendly’, and has taken into consideration some of the fears of their customers especially concerning what many may describe as ‘crazy’ bills.
“That is a thing of the past now. We have a system especially for those of our customers with the old pre-paid meter. We would bill them based on the average of their eight to ten months electric consumption in the past,” the staff of PHCN said, in order to assuage the fears of people.
Going by past dealings with the organization, many find it difficult to believe. For those who have no other workable alternative, they have decided to adopt a ‘wait and see’ attitude. Others are still clinging to their old meters, even when they can no longer dispense light any more.
How long it will take for the new meters to be available to the public and the portals be opened for the public to apply and make payments is anyone’s guess.
According to the circular, the commission said a single-phase meter will now cost N81,975.16 instead of the previous price of N58,661.69. Similarly, the price of a three-phase meter was increased to N143,836.10 from N109,684.36.
New applications for meters are no longer being processed, as there are indications that NERC will soon announce a new pricing rate. Applications can only be processed once the new prices are announced, leaving many applicants without meters. Consequently, the cost of meters will go up soon. This has subsequently stalled new meter applications pending when the prices are reviewed upwards.
So due to FX issues, the meter manufacturers have stopped sending invoices until the meter price is reviewed.”
Some customers have complained that the distribution companies ought to have given priority to those with old meters, while others are bitter over the fact of not being able to get meters despite applying weeks earlier and in some cases months. Others who had paid for their meters also complained of delays in getting the meters.
Meanwhile, according to reports, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said the 11 Electricity Distribution Companies, DISCOs, obtained a credit facility totalling N273.34 billion to purchase 414,000 meters for distribution.
A detailed assessment of the N10.3 trillion developmental finance between 2015 and 2022, CBN, disclosed that the meters purchased included maximum demand meters, Smart meters, and Single-Phase meters.
The loan, disbursed under the Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilization Facility intervention project aimed at increasing electricity capacity from 3,400 megawatts, MW to approximately 4,900MW.
According to the breakdown, the Ikeja Disco received N40.74 billion from the intervention programme while the Eko Disco received N34.85 billion.
Also, Abuja Distribution Company got N34.69 billion, Ibadan Disco borrowed N27.73 billion, Enugu DISCO borrowed N27.84 billion, while Kaduna Disco borrowed N24.36 billion.
The report also highlighted key issues identified in the program, including an inefficient market characterized by market liquidity challenges, foreign exchange scarcity, and inadequate electricity distribution infrastructure.
With additional reports from the Vanguard