Electricity consumers in the Borikiri axis of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, have cried out against the exorbitant bills given to them.
The Chairman of Electricity Committee UPE Sandfilled, Borikiri, Mr Emmanuel Abibo, who spoke to The Tide, weekend in a chat, stated that consumers were groaning under the weight of the heavy estimated electricity bills they received.
Abibo noted that in spite of the guidelines issued by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on metering and bills of consumers by distribution companies, the problem of exorbitant billings persisted.
It is even more saddening to note that electricity staff hardly read existing meters and they have also refused to issue prepaid meters, which consumers have severally asked for.
According to him, “The PHED staff don’t come around to read meters, all people see is the bill on which is written estimated bill. We are aware that NERC has told distribution companies to only give estimated bills to unmetered customers, but they do it across all consumers except the very few that use pre-paid meters”.
He lamented that, “we have even asked that they issue us pre-paid meters, but they claim they are not available, however, those who can part with some money are given the pre-paid meters”.
Authorities at the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) could not be reached to comment on the matter as at press time.

Tonye Nria-Dappa