ESTIMATED BILLING: A NIGHTMARE FOR ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS

Energy consumers in Nigeria have different tales over the ongoing estimated billing and absence of prepaid meters. For instance, consumers in Katsina wondered how the DisCos can just sit in their office, estimate what a customer consumes and send a bill.  Unmetered electricity consumers in Kaduna State have also cried out over what they described as outrageous electricity charges from estimated billing. Some electricity consumers in Sokoto State complained about the inflated estimated billing. They said that they were being forced to pay for what they did not consume. Electricity consumers in Lagos are not left out of the protests and criticisms over the regime of estimated billing system. This outcry by electricity consumers in the country have become disturbing. The issue requires an immediate and workable solution.

Apart from the ridiculously high bills that come with estimated billing, there is also the case of incessant increment in the bills. Many consumers have complained that their electricity bills had doubled and, in some cases, tripled while some also complained of low current, which they said was not useful to them. A regular bill of N3,000 would be increased to N10,000 without a proper explanation from the corresponding DisCo.

However, some of the DisCos have explained that consumers experience high charges because of the increase in power allocation to consumers. In response to that, consumers said that the improvements in electricity supply was only marginal. They also decried the unnecessary delay in distribution of prepaid meters to homes. The discos further lamented that the cost of procuring the meters were expensive. They explained that they are working towards metering every customer and urged consumers to be patient.

While we remain hopeful that the estimated billing will be fixed, we commend LuxxorPower for investing in the power business.

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