Electricity consumers lament ‘crazy’ bills amid poor power supply

Electricity consumers in the country are not happy paying outrageous bills when they are not supplied power, or where it is supplied, it is very poor – far from their money’s worth.

According to the costumers, the distribution companies (DisCos) have subjected them to paying shocking electricity bills, which do not represent the energy they consumed. A resident of Yaba area of Lagos, Mr. Abiose Oluwole, told The Guardian that “The estimated billing is a crime against the masses because this is just of the ways we are being shortchanged.

“I am a victim. Despite inconsistent power supply, each month I am sent a crazy bill to pay up or risk disconnection,” he said.On his part, Mr. Desire Adebowale said that efforts to remedy the situation and acquire a pre-paid meter had failed several times. “The company will frustrate you because what it estimates is sometimes 10 times of the actual charge. So, it enjoys the estimated billing.”

A resident of Ilasamaja area of Lagos told The Guardian that when he got tired of the outrageous bills, he struggled and got the pre-paid meter. But a month later when he used about N1,000 worth of electricity, the DisCo mistakenly sent him the usual bill of N18,000.From Lagos to Ibadan, Port Harcourt to Enugu, Kano to Maiduguri, and other parts of the country, complaints of poor electricity supply, outrageous bills, extortion, insensitivity and disrespect by DisCos abound.

However, The Guardian learnt that DisCos have commenced changes to replace the monthly printed electricity bills with text messages. With the development, as learnt, they will gradually discontinue the practice of printed bills in a changing tech atmosphere.But customers have condemned the move and warned the firms to always involve customers whenever such sensitive decisions were being proposed.

A worker for Ikeja Electric, who pleaded anonymity, said that the e-billing would favour the costumers, eliminating middleman or ‘marketers’.“The bills that costumers receive will actually not be changed or adjusted, so that the marketer can earn more.”