By Francis Ewherido
The jury is still out there on the treatment meted out to the ever-so-beautiful Mrs. Funke Osibodu, the Managing Director of Benin Electricity Distribution Company, BEDC, by Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the Governor of Edo State.
Mrs. Osibodu and some of her BEDC colleagues had allegedly “smuggled” themselves into a delegation of the members of the House of Representatives Committee on Power that was on a courtesy visit to the governor.
The governor did not like the cocktail of BEDC officials and House of Representative Committee members, especially when the “drink” he ordered, and was expecting, was the house committee members only. Promptly, he dismissed Osibodu and her group. The governor was said to be unhappy with BEDC for throwing Edo people into darkness for months and frustrating the Edo State Government’s efforts to source electricity power from alternative sources.
Whether you are for Osibodu or Obaseki on the incident, one thing is uniform: Electricity Distribution Companies, otherwise known as DISCOs, have inflicted great pains on Nigerians and added to the financial woes of many Nigerian families.
When the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) was bulkanised into GENCOs and DISCOs, many Nigerians heaved a sigh of relief and looked forward to two major improvements in the power sector: stable electricity power supply and being able to control their electricity expenses. Both dreams are still mirage to majority of Nigerians.
Nigerian families, who have had the roughest deal, are those without pre-paid meters. Usually, when a family is drawing up a monthly budget, it relies on previous months to come up with figures for recurrent items like food, rents (where applicable), transportation, water and electricity (supposedly). But how do you plan with these electricity bills since January 2018, for instance: January, N31,590; February, N21,558.00, March, N16,598.80, April, N18,924.00; May, N24,033.60; June, N21, 924; July, N29,620.40; August, N27,5523.86, September, N35,511.20; October, N34,939.20; November, N47,44.80 and wait for it, December’s bill is N50,491.60! These are my bills. Now how do I make my monthly budget with this kind of wide and wild fluctuations? No patterns, no predictability.
I wanted to get a prepaid meter and made enquiries. The people I contacted told me there are no prepaid meters through official sources, but they could help me get one for between N120,000 and N150,000 through extra-official sources. So prepaid meters have joined the league of driver’s license, international passport and NYSC exemption certificates that can only be sourced easily through extra-official means, I wondered to myself.
They also told me about a short cut to solving my problem of crazy bills. They said some people, like me, whose bills were increasing monthly without a corresponding increase in electricity supply, contact the “appropriate” official(s) in DISCOs. They make the official(s) happy and their bills become “normal.” What a disaster, you have to “make officials happy” to get the right electricity bill.
Since none of the options appealed to me, I decided to handle things my own way and act before my monthly electricity bill climbs to N100,000. First, I sent somebody last month to drop a letter applying for the meter and also protest the crazy bills I have been receiving. I also decided to confront them on why I cannot easily get a prepaid meter and be in charge of my electricity bills. But when I got December bill and it was even crazier, I knew I had to go there personally. I did last Thursday and met one Chioma in the customer service unit. I was steeled for their usual lack of courtesy and brashness, but she welcomed me warmly. She listened to my complaints and called the marketer in charge of my area to bring the bill down to N30,000. That is still very high compared to my neighbours with prepaid meters who spend about N15,000 monthly on electricity, but as we used to say in our school days, “10 per cent of something is better than 100 per cent of nothing.”
The marketer also agreed to come to my house today and assess my electricity consumption while my application for a prepaid meter is being processed. Chioma also guided me to complete my application form. She gave me her number and promised to follow up. She said my prepaid meter will be out within two months. I thanked her for her kind gesture, but told her I will hold her on her promise.
Chioma’s gesture made me to rewrite portions of today’s column. Her gesture also changed my course of action because I had written a petition against EKEDC that I was going to take to Eko Forum (where complaints against EKEDC are lodged) after leaving Chioma’s office. But now I am going to delay lodging the petition for two months to allow Chioma fulfil her promise on behalf of EKEDC to provide my prepaid meter.
Chioma caught me off guard. I had written that “customers might be kings in other sectors, but as far as DISCOs are concerned, customers are their domestic servants. NEPA placed a heavy yoke on Nigerians and we looked forward to DISCOs removing or at least reducing the yoke, but like Rehoboam, DISCOs have made it clear to Nigerians that whilst NEPA chastised us with whips, they would and are chastising us with scorpions. To drive home their resolve, they placed adverts in various newspapers recently. The message was basically, molest our (disconnecting) staff and go to jail. No word on the gross injustice meted out to Nigerians. I do not support illegality or people taking laws into their hands, but the DISCOs field-staff are so cocky and mean. They literally poke their fingers in customers’ eyes. No thought about customer satisfaction. Many of them actually provoke electricity consumers and you have to be level headed to avoid altercations with them.
“DISCOs have really brutalized and molested Nigerians mentally. How can you send monthly bills to people who have been in darkness for months? How do you continue to increase people’s electricity bills when power supply is on the reverse? How do you give a family of five in a three-bedroom flat a bill of N70,000 monthly? DISCOs bring sorrow to many Nigerian families with their crazy bills. They also disrupt the budget of these families.
Nigerians are not asking for much. They want prepaid meters so that they can control their expenditure. They want prepaid meters so that they can do effective financial planning. They want prepaid meters so that they are sure they are paying for only what they consume. Until the prepaid meters are available, their electricity bills should be in line with those of their neighbours who have prepaid meters. Are these too much to ask for?”
The portions in quotes above are still the lot of many Nigerians. But now I commence my two months wait to see whether or not my experience with Chioma is an isolated case. Meanwhile, customers of EKEDC, who have passed through the stage I am about to go through without results, should petition Eko Forum, 61, Odunlami Street, Lagos Island, to seek redress. That was the advice a lawyer I had contacted to commence litigation against EKEDC gave me.