Nigerian government pledges commitment to ending estimated billing in power sector

The minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu has restated the federal government’s commitment to end the estimated billing system in the nation’s power sector.

The minister said this at a meeting with the management of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) as part of his working tour of power facilities in Nigeria.

Mr Adelabu said that the purpose of the meeting was to seek more collaboration with relevant stakeholders to see how the power sector could be moved forward.

According to him, it also aims at addressing complaints from electricity consumers.

“IBEDC remains the largest in terms of coverage among the distribution companies, which brings a lot of responsibilities and consumers’ expectations to the company.’’

The minister said that the metering gap remained wide in Nigeria, noting that about 50 per cent of the customers within the coverage area were yet to be metered.

“Citizens are tired of estimated billing because estimated billing always leads to cheating between consumers, staff and the company.

“Before the end of this year, we are looking at the possibility of ending estimated billing because we want transparency and objectivity in our billing system,’’ he said.

He added that President Bola Tinubu has just established a presidential metering initiative to harmonise all metering acquisitions in the country.

“We have up to eight million-meter gap in Nigeria and what the initiative seeks to achieve is to close this gap in three to five years.

“This means that an average of two million meters is required on a yearly basis and achieving the target is compulsory for citizens to enjoy stable power supply,’’ the minister said.

According to him, the situation whereby communities will contribute money to acquire transformers, cables and other electrical equipment must stop.

The minister said that Nigerians should expect an electricity tariff review in a way that would not add to the burden of the citizens, adding that adequate sensitisation and public enlightenment must be carried out before such a review.

He said that the review would be progressive, with minimal to no impact on low-income earners and people in areas with short supply durations.

“Another condition is that we must improve the electricity supply so as to encourage people to pay before we can talk about tariff adjustments.

“We must also ensure that the tariff review is better when compared with alternative energy sources,“ he said.

Also speaking, the Managing Director of IBEDC, Kingsley Achife, who said the present electricity tariff is not cost-reflective, said that the situation needs prompt attention to improve the quality of service to the people.

Mr Achife said that IBEDC had opened a transformer repair workshop in Ibadan to ensure that transformers were being repaired and restored to operation within a short period of time.

He said that the company would soon take delivery of 300 transformers to increase its service capabilities in its area of coverage.

He urged the ministry to harness huge investment opportunities along the Ibadan-Lagos expressway axis due to the presence of many organisations along the axis.

“Travelling along Ibadan to Lagos, the whole area is filled with investment opportunities. Unfortunately, we are not able to serve that place for several reasons, including wires, infrastructure, and other required assets,” he said.

(NAN)