DisCos And Their Oppressed Customers

 By I.D. Nga

What exactly were Nigerians supposed to gain from the pri­vatization of the power sector? What, for instance, made the new power distribution companies (DIS­COs) preferable to the much despised and now defunct NEPA or PHCN? Or was the privatization programme just another scheme to put power supply in different (preferred) hands, and nothing more?

A key issue with the new arrangement is that the citizens are still denied the op­tion of choice. In the telecommunications sector, once you lose interest in one service provider, you can simply throw away its SIM card and obtain that of another. But in the case of the power sector, you are perpetu­ally stuck with the particular DISCO un­der whose fiefdom you fall into by virtue of where your accommodation is located. And so, even if you are not happy with their dismal and excruciating style of operations, you cannot leave them, and you have no one to run to for help.

And what is worse, Nigerians are still trapped in the same notoriously poor power supply system under which NEPA/PHCN made them to pay heavily for thick dark­ness. Knowing, therefore, that there is no way of escaping their vice grip unless the person packs out of their fiefdom (a very unlikely occurrence given the high cost of changing accommodations in Lagos, for in­stance), the DISCOs have devised several methods for extorting and oppressing their victims – who, in the present circumstance, can only suffer in silence.

The aim of this preliminary comment is to offer customers few suggestions on how to minimize their suffering in the hands of these mindless shylocks.

Now, if your house happens to fall into the enclave of the one called Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), the most important precaution you must take is to ensure that you guard your pre-paid meter very jealously. Else, you will return home one day to discover that your meter has suddenly (and “mysteriously”) gone blank. This, however, will not stop the supply of electric power to your apartment.

Sometimes, it might take you a long time to discover this – when it suddenly occurs to you that you have not “recharged” your meter for a long time even when you are still enjoying electricity. And once you report to their office, they will shock you with the information that it is “illegal” to repair the meter! And so, you must apply for a new meter. And this is where your trouble starts. They may even tantalize you with the in­formation that the meter is free, that the Federal Government pays for it, that even if you purchase it, the money will eventually be refunded to you.

Since you are still getting the usually ep­ileptic power, you might choose to concen­trate first on the tedious process of apply­ing for their new meter. But after sometime, they will serve you a bill they call “Loss of Revenue” (LOR), and that is when it will dawn on you that all this while, you have not been dealing with people with human heart. The bill would startle you, because, at first, you would think they meant to serve it to a manufacturing company nearby but mistakenly brought it to you. Soon, they will disconnect you from power supply and if you are unable to pay the huge bill to the last kobo, they will neither restore electric­ity to your apartment nor even allow you to pay and obtain the new meter you have applied for.

A customer told me that if you are lucky, some kind-hearted staff of the company might call you aside and secretly advise you to better endure the prolonged darkness and stay without electric power supply while you wait for your meter to be processed, which can sometimes take as much as eight to nine months or even over a year. If you neglect this advice, one day you may have to take a bank loan and borrow massively from friends to pay the bill they will send to you under their notorious “Loss of Revenue” arrangement! It is that bad!

The “Loss of Revenue” policy is the gold­mine of the EKEDC. I was told of a woman in Surulere who despite all the money she had already paid them is still owing N500, 000. And this is just a residence and not a manufacturing company. Another man said they billed his office where they manufac­tured nothing over a million naira. So, it is always better to endure the darkness (no matter how long) until your meter comes unless you can afford the hundreds of thou­sands they will seek to extract from you.

It might look as if the new meters they are installing will bring any succour. Most people regard those meters as Casino Boxes. They only exist to burn your money like the candle waxes they now import from China. People are beginning to establish a link between the desperation of EKEDC people to replace the normal pre-paid me­ters with the “fast running” new ones with frightening regularity at which the meters are suddenly malfunctioning. It is like the ones that are going bad are the ones whose owners did not take care to place at points where they cannot be accessed by any other person when they are not around.

This may not be far from the truth be­cause a customer told me recently that some EKEDC staff came to his office and told the security personnel that they wanted to re­move the “old meters” and give them new ones! Fortunately for him, the security men were wiser: they told them to their faces that they did not need new meters. Now, why do they want to replace meters that are func­tioning if they do not have sinister motives?

So, if you find yourself in EKEDC’s fief­dom, ensure you make your meter inacces­sible. Two, if your meter malfunctions and they disconnect you because you could not afford their usually overinflated “Loss of Revenue” bill, try and endure the darkness and remain disconnected as you try to offset the bill and process your meter.

EKEDC staff are distinguished by their arrogance, dishonesty and callousness. And these their behavioural patterns are breeding deep-seated resentment and anger against them in their hapless victims. Are they service providers or mere extortion­ists eager to suck the people dry? And how long will the people continue to endure their provocative operations before their anger boils over? That’s why I think that the au­thorities must intervene before we have a major crisis in the area superintended by these mindless characters.

The problem with Nigeria is that we often wait until the people revolt before we move in to institute some damage control? Where is the Ministry of Power? Where are the House and Senate Committees on Power? Does the National Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) still exist and what exactly are its functions? Should not the government intervene and investigate the claims made in this article and nip any po­tential crisis in the bud?

And where are the print and electronic media? Are they no longer existing to serve the Nigerian people? Why don’t they beam their searchlights on EKEDC (and other DISCOs) and bring to light the unspeakable suffering Nigerians are undergoing at their godless hands?

Indeed, the House and Senate Commit­tees on Power should hold a public hearing in the area controlled by this particular service provider and hear from the people directly. That is what service to the people should entail. Hapless citizens should not just be left in the hands of cold-hearted shylocks to suck out the last drop of blood in them. The patience of the victims might soon snap, but this can be prevented. It is possible that some powerful individuals might be behind EKEDC which might ex­plain why its staff act as gods that cannot be tamed. They talk down on everybody with utmost impunity. But they have ob­viously taken more than they can chew and unduly stretched the powers of the big guns behind them. Everywhere people are discussing their tormenting action with charged emotions. A quick intervention must be entered immediately to prevent a firestorm.

*Nga, a consumer rights activist, writes via idnga2000@yahoo.com