Contrary to claims by Power Holding Company Of Nigeria (PHCN) that electricity supply and its billing system have improved, facts on ground indicate that a consumers are being ripped –off by the company.
LEADERSHIP investigations revealed that some officials of the company whose stock in trade is becoming more dubious by the day have perfected the art of exploiting the consumers through un-reconciled accounts, estimated billing system and what the consumers called crazy bills.
Speaking with our correspondent, an aggrieved consumer, Mr. Stephen Oladipo Gbadebo, said the activities of the company called for questioning, urging the government, the Nigerian Consumer Protection Council(NCPC), and other relevant agencies to intervene .
According to him: “ I used to pay my bills through the estimated billing system on meter number 69/15/44/0270-01 in my residence at 21, Sola Solesi Street at Atan –Kekere , Ayobo area of Lagos.
The payment on my old bill was cleared on 18/8/2011 at Ijaiye PHCN office . Having cleared the old bills, I switched to the prepaid system which I felt was better.
“ Surprisingly , I was embarrassed and did not believe what I saw when in October PHCN brought another crazy bill of N6,961 to me .
From where is the bill coming from . After I had started recharging the new prepaid meter . I have been wondering where these bills are coming from. The issue is that the act is deliberate .
It is either somebody is not doing his job or it is a ploy to defraud unsuspecting individuals who will go and pay for the bill and the money goes to the pockets of the corrupt officials.’’
According to Chief James Ikem , a businessman, the level of corruption among PHCN staff has become worrisome as they have turned the consumers to ATM machines for cashing money at will.
‘‘It is either they are selling fraudulent ideas to consumers to pay them some money to help them adjust their meters so that their? bills are drastically? reduced, or they are negotiating with them to write-off the huge bills accumulated .
“ Meanwhile PHCN has continued to hold on to power since they came out with their new name and only release it only when they want to deceive people to pay for bills.
This estimation system by PHCH is the highest fraudulent practice in the country. How can somebody be paying for something not used ?”
Another respondent,? Mr. Michael Odunuga, questioned the rationale behind the inclusion of? meter recurring charge of N250 in the prepaid meters as meter maintenance charge on monthly basis even though PHCN? has never come? to maintain the meters.
“? Though I still preferred the prepaid meter , there is also a fixed charge of N75 in the prepaid meter payment schedule .
This added means you already have a bill of N325,00? every month? before the payment of the real bill . It is not fair ,the relevant agencies should stop it,” he? pleaded.?
Speaking on steps to correct the anomalies in the company ,the chief executive officer of Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN), Engineer Chris Okaa Akamnonu,assured that? some of the problems would soon be a thing of the past.
“ We are making efforts to make? things better in the power generating? industry. We have set up customer complaints units in all the business units. We also have a supervisory unit which oversees what is happening in the business units.’’
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