BREAKING NEWS, Power
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Benjamin Dikki, director-general of Bureau of Public Enterprises, has told electricity consumers that if they want to get efficient service delivery in the power sector, they must be prepared to pay their bills because electricity is no longer a social service
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Jul. 7, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
THE Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, has urged the new power investors in Nigeria to liaise with security agencies to check the reported cases of vandalism, harassment and assault on their personnel over unpaid electricity bills. Benjamin Dikki, director general, BPE, stated this when the post-privatisation monitoring team from the Bureau visited the Port-Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, PHEDC.
He said that it was no longer business as usual in the power sector as Nigerians, irrespective of their status must be prepared to pay for the services rendered by the power companies. Dikki was reacting to complaints by Mathew Edevbie, managing director, 4Power Company, the core investor of the PHEDC, that workers of the utility company were constantly molested and beaten up by military and paramilitary officers over unpaid electricity bills.
According to Dikki, if Nigerians expect efficient and reliable power supply from the core investors, they must be prepared to pay their bills as electricity companies were no longer government assets. He expressed delight that the PHEDC was managed by professionals who were determined to make a difference in the country’s power sector and urged the management of the various companies to always collaborate with the Bureau to tackle the challenges facing them.
The BPE boss said the purpose of the post-privatisation monitoring was to assess the performances of the companies since the handover to ensure compliance with all the tenets covenanted with the government on take over.
In his remarks, Matthew Edevbie, managing director, 4Power Company, informed the monitoring team that the company had evolved a robust master plan to give efficient and quality service to its customers. While urging all stakeholders to effectively manage expectations in the power sector, he appealed to electricity consumers in the country to be patient with the new owners as effective power supply would not be achieved over night.
Edevbie decried the attitude of some highly-paced persons in the society in the coverage area of the PHEDC who by-pass meters and deliberately refuse to pay their bills or order the security men attached to their homes to beat up officials of the company who go to disconnect light in their homes over unpaid bills.
The MD advised electricity consumers to note that contrary to their understanding, electricity is consumed by volume and not the period of consumption hence oftentimes, bills are issued to consumers for previous consumption when they have blackout for a given time. Edevbie appealed to the BPE and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, to review some of their laws in order not to strangulate the power companies.
Also speaking, Jon Abbas, chief executive officer, PHEDC, said the company was working on a pilot scheme where selected areas in its coverage area-Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross- River and Akwa-Ibom, would have un-interrupted power supply 24-hours a day, adding that for a start, Ahoada in Rivers state was picked for the scheme.
The BPE monitoring team also visited the Afam Power Station, where the team leader advised the management to put in place a monitoring template for the incoming core investors of the company. Leo Ofurum, managing director, Afam Power Station, informed the team that despite operational challenges, the management team was doing its best to generate power.
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