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To say that the nation’s electricity industry is ridden with corruption would be to put it mildly as facts and evidences tendered against officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) at the just concluded metering probe instituted by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory commission (NERC) were jaw dropping.

The probe panel was instituted by NERC to conduct a public inquiry into metering in Nigeria with a view to getting firsthand knowledge of metering efficiency, under the Chairmanship of Bamidele Aturu.?

In carrying out their assignment, the panel visited the six geo- political zones in the country where the general complaints from all the regions were that of insufficient electricity supply, and sharp and corrupt practices by PHCN officials. It was also discovered that less than 50 per cent of electricity consumers have active billing meters, leaving them at the mercy of estimated billing.

What was most worrisome for the committee was that there was a very huge metering gap in all the visited zones. The huge metering gap, according to Aturu, “is like an emergency because in the committee’s view it is important that PHCN is able to adequately meter Nigerians before some of the reforms are properly undertaken.”

There were also complaints about the dichotomy between the rich and poor in the allocation of lines as neighbourhoods? with rich residents were allocated ‘hot lines’ to the detriment of others.

More so, during the public hearing, customers complained of not being provided with pre-paid meters after years of payment. But to the amazement of all present, the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the Distribution Companies (DISCOS) promised to supply meters to customers with evidence of payments within 24 hours to one week periods.

Despite these plethora of allegations against the PHCN staff, the CEOs feigned ignorance of the customers’ plights, saying that they were not aware that customers were being subjected to such treatments.

A unique example was the case of Tudun-Wada community in Lugbe, Abuja, which complained of being extorted by a certain contractor who was neither a licencee of NERC nor a contractor to PHCN. Chairman of the Tudun-Wada Residents Welfare Association, Mr. Clement Oba Ehigiator, said the community had been in darkness for the past four years without power, but when the residents, through self- help, bought two transformers, officials of the PHCN refused to have them installed. Instead, the staff connived with the contractor to install another transformer and then compelled residents to pay N5,000 each to be connected.

Astonished by the allegation, Aturu, while noting that although the committee’s main focus was on metering, stated that adequate power supply was a precursor to meters deployment. To this end, he said the committee would visit the affected community to see facts for themselves, even as he lamented that the poor electricity supply in the country has made many people to take advantage of consumers.

But speaking before the committee departed on a fact-finding mission to the community, the Chief Executive Officer of the Abuja DISCOS, Mr. Abdulganiyu Umar, said he was hearing about the matter for the first time and that he would investigate the matter thoroughly and report back to the committee. He denied giving such approvals to anyone to distribute power on behalf of PHCN.

Aturu, further stressed the importance of having adequate redress mechanism that allows electricity consumers the opportunity of having their complaints heard and addressed quickly, adding, “It is pertinent to have a standard measurement for electricity consumption.”

He, however, maintained that the findings of the committee were intended to find solutions to electricity challenges. “We will state the facts as we find them and we will make sure that the recommendations of the committee are implemented. Our task is to assist the regulator in its task of providing an efficient and fair template to ensure that consumers are equitably billed by having a sound metering system,” Aturu said.

But reacting to the development, the Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, said he was not surprised at the committees findings, even as he vowed that the Commission would ensure the prosecution of indicted officials in the court of law.

He said the need to constitute the panel was informed by the NERCs desire to establish a baseline and put a face on the issue of exploitative billing and extortion. “We organised the committee in order to have first hand information and to give the consumers the opportunity to come and say it as it is, because we know that even if we ask the DISCOS to give us the complaints so we know how we can manage them, they are not going to give us. I wasn’t surprised at the revelations, I expected it,” he said.

On the provision of meters as promised by the CEOs, Amadi said, “You do not need further arguments to establish that the CEOs are the ones who do not want efficiency and accountability in the system. For the past many years, metering has been an issue, and that a CEO can pledge a meter within a week shows that meters are not as unavailable as the CEOs make it look. We have lived with a very corrupt structure of the Nigerian electricity market.”

These revelations he said, would further inform how the sector would be regulated, adding that “even if we do not redress this now, the minimum expectation is that going forward; we will sanitise the sector and ensure it does not continue like this.

“The minimum we can give to customers is to end exploitation. Even if we can’t guarantee them longer hours of electricity supply, we should be able to guarantee that they pay for what they consume and that they are not exploited by very corrupt PHCN officials,” Amadi said.

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