85% Of Electricity Consumers Have No Meters – Manager

More than 85 per cent of the 36,000 customers using electricity in the Diobu business unit of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) do not have meters, the Business Manger, Engr. Festus Mmegbu has said.

Mmegbu, who stated this when residents of Mile 3 in the Diobu area of Port Harcourt staged a peaceful protest to his office along Ikwerre Road over incessant power outage noted that massive deployment and installation of meters are currently going on in the Diobu business unit.

He said that the failure by customers to install meters at their premises was causing under-estimation, pointing out that some staff are currently undertaking the meter installation.

According to him, it has been rough with the Diobu business unit as there have been prevalent faults in transmission sub-station at Amadi  junction along Port Harcourt / Aba Road Expressway.

Mmegbu used the opportunity to debunk the motion by some members of the public that meters were not available and called on them to come to the office for the meters, which he said a single phase costs N25,000 while three phases is N55,000.

Installation of the meters, according to him, is free of charge by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company, adding, “we called on the people to come up and pay for connection to enable them get new meters.

Coordinator of the protesters, Mr Kingsley Agibia told the business manager that they were protesting because they had suffered power outage for a very long period.

For a very long time, we have remained without light while our close neighboring streets are enjoying constant power supply. We want to know why. The protesters carried placards which read: “No light, no bill, “say no to blackout,” among others.

Shedie Okpara