NERC should end ‘crazy bill’ tyranny NEARLY a year after the transfer of ownership from the government to the private sector in November last year, Nigeria’s power sector has continued to be anything but what it was envisaged to be. Rather than bring succour and satisfying service delivery, electricity supply has remained short and irregular, sometimes in a worse situation than it was before the change of ownership that came through an opaque privatisation process. Perhaps the only area where the new owners have striven to outperform their recklessly inept predecessors has been in the ravenous administration of tariff, where hapless consumers are being forced to pay much more for less or non-existent services. Although the practice of arbitrary billing predates the current operators, they have, however, taken it to a scandalous level. Bills are fixed arbitrarily in what has come to be infamously known as “Estimated Billing,” with scant respect for meter readings. Consumers have always been told since the Multi-Year Tariff Order was introduced in 2008 that increase in electricity prices will cause short-term discomfort, but would pay off in the long run. But this worrying abuse has gone for too long with no benefit whatsoever to the consumer; it must be stopped. Recent news reports have it that consumers have been groaning in silence over the sudden surge in their electricity bills. But, as if to tell those who might be reluctant to comply with the dubious charges that they mean business, the increase is backed up with mass disconnection threats, sometimes with police in tow. Evidently, these are illegalities being perpetrated with the malicious intent to defraud, a case of deliberately seeking to reap where no sowing was done. The reason is that very little has been achieved in the area of additional investment to what was inherited. As of September 28, the generation companies could only produce 3,449.85 megawatts of electricity, out of which only 3,378.19MW was reportedly evacuated by the Transmission Company of Nigeria. For the DisCos, they are more or less rent collectors as consumers are still made to fix minute electricity supply issues. For Sam Amadi, the Chairman, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the biggest let down in the electricity market is lack of meters and scarcity of energy. Amadi says there “is scarcity of energy because of lack of gas, lack of robust metering coupled with revenue shortfall. This has made it difficult to force the DisCos to meet their business plans, which include metering.” But the issue at stake here is the DisCos’ deliberate refusal to implement the prepaid meter policy aimed at infusing transparency into the market. Instead, the new power generation and distribution firms have decided to foist on consumers the burden of excessive, yet arbitrary, charges as their surest bet to making profit; this is quite unfortunate. Amadi has failed woefully to rein in these exploitative practices. Under the remit of the current generation and distribution companies, there seems to be a deliberate decision to ensure that prepaid meters are not made available, so as to perpetuate the billing fraud. The advantage here for the DisCos is that there is a leeway to exploit consumers, who are forced to pay high tariff, whether electricity is supplied or not. This arbitrariness, which the NERC boss once described as “a very big scandal,” would have been eliminated, to the benefit of consumers, if prepaid meters were provided and they only paid for what they consumed. But, even more mind-boggling in the entire charade is the seemingly helpless posturing of the regulatory agency. Over the passing months, NERC has come across as a weak regulatory agency whose directives are treated with levity by the DisCos and GenCos. For the umpteenth time, Amadi has directed that prepaid meters be provided, yet nothing happened; and NERC does nothing to ensure compliance. Rather, what has been playing out sometimes is the incongruity of the regulator becoming an apologist for those that it should be regulating. Amadi has even gone to the ridiculous extent of sometimes saying that the firms lack funds to invest, since no bank is willing to lend them additional money beyond what they used to buy up the companies. This should not be the job of the regulator; his should be the duty of ensuring that both the industry and consumers are protected. This is where the privatisation went awry. Both the Bureau of Public Enterprises and NERC have been so lax in ensuring that the power companies fulfil their obligations as contained in Share Sale and Purchase Agreement, Performance Agreements, Post-Privatisation Monitoring Template, Reporting Compliance Regulation and Terms and Conditions of Licensing. This is the time for Amadi to stand firm, the way Ernest Ndukwe did when he assumed the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission and played a crucial role in the telecoms revolution. It was really sickening listening to Amadi tell reporters recently that the interim metering policy did not achieve results because the DisCos kicked against it. His threat not to implement new tariff in December is not enough. He should do more in building a steelier regulatory framework and a steadier electricity market. With the N213bn power sector intervention fund windfall, it is his duty now to ensure that they comply with it or face severe sanctions. This is the time for him to set targets and wield the big stick if the targets are not met. Given the strategic importance of electricity to the social and economic life of the country, the regulator should stop at nothing in ensuring that the sector is developed to become a robust market. Nigerians should also stop accepting oppression but reach out to civil society and lawyers to fight the tyranny of the DisCos. ift.tt/1q7sLob ift.tt/1ls1hrf [[Boost your social presence with NAIRALIKES nairalikes ]] #nigeria x #nairalikes #vanguardng
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 03:58:46 +0000
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