The unbundling of the Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to private owners could have been the best to the electricity sector and Nigerians in generally, if not for the rot it has unexpectedly become. The frustrations electricity consumers passed through in the hands of the rested National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) has remained indelible in the minds of the average Nigerian citizen. It was therefore, not out of place that Nigerians rejoiced whole heartedly when the outfit’s name was change to PHCN in a bid transform and reposition the organisation for better and more qualitative performance. That was not to be as things went from bad to worse as if the sector has been doomed to remain non-productive and comatose. However, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan did not relent, but intensified its effort to find a common ground towards providing sustainable electricity supply to the citizens, and came up with the idea of privatisation. And so, the birth of electricity distributing and generating companies (DISCOs and GENCOs) took place, and was heralded. But that has proved not to be the power uhuru the people of Nigeria has so much clamoured for. This is because nothing tangible, in terms of improvement, has been noticed or experienced; it is still the same darkness of the days of NEPA through to the days of PHCN, and now the so called DISCOs and GENCOs; nothing has changed. While the Federal Government promised to generate as much as 4,000 megawatts of electricity by this month, the best they have achieved is a paltry 3,000 megawatts, which has as at today, abysmally dropped to 2,800 megawatts. The worst part of the whole thing is that no one has so far been asked why these things happen, or even queried, either officially or otherwise, considering that government has sincerely pumped in millions of naira to make things work in the sector. A section of the country believe that the lame nature of the sector borders on high level of corruption among stakeholders, which for reasons no one could explain, has been impossible to checkmate. Now there is the pre-paid metre, a measure applauded by all and sundry, as the panacea for crazy bills. The project, with all the hype it came with, started on a very wrong footing, like a lame duck. As at the present, less than 10 per cent of Nigerians know what it looks like. And to those who had been privileged to get and install on, their tales of woes are unprecedented. Beginning from the point of procurement, to instalment, to usage and then to making payment, the story has remained an ‘earsore’ if there is anything like that. Now, if you are privileged to have a pre-paid metre, you are authomatically expected to pay N750 so-called monthly maintenance or service charge said to be used to maintain or service the metre. One therefore, wonders when it has become a norm for one to be responsible for the duties and responsibilities of another, having seen to have performed his own. Why is a consumer, who is dutifully paying for the power utilised, still pay other spurious charges in the name of service charge? It is more that preposterous. The charge is uncalled for. The DISCOs and by extension, the GENCOs should derive whatever fee they need from every recharge of the user, just like the telecommunications companies are in the habit of doing, and which is booming their businesses. It has never been heard that a communication company billed a customer for servicing his phone. Someone may argue that both scenarios are different from each other. Wrong! They are not! The phone was bought off the shelf, and so was the metre. The pre-paid metre by the way, was paid for, and so the DISCOs should not claim ownership. They are giving service, and should be contented with the whatever weekly, monthly or yearly recharge fee a consumer is entitled to pay, and outrightly abolish the N750 maintenance fee. Yes, we understand that monetary laws where the populace is short-changed, once made, is difficult to reverse, the authorised agency should at least do a down ward review of the whole issue. The N750 mandatory payment is on the high side, and leaves nothing but holes in the pockets of the average Nigerian. For instance, N750 in 12 months, which argue for one year, is N9000. This is exclusive of bank charges, which vary according to banks. One is expected therefore, to cough out at least N9000 every year, in addition the regular recharges for electricity in this harsh economic dispensation. You can imagine how one pays for electricity which for all intent and purposes is hardly seen or experienced. Consequently, this huge sum is paid for darkness. Not that this is exclusive of the cost of diesel and/or fuel as the case may be, and servicing of generators. A reduction of the fee to N250 or less, if not total cancellation, will make economic sense if actually the government (both the outgoing and incoming) have the interest of its citizens at heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment