Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State (left), with Julius Berger site Engineer, Emmafedo , briefing the governor on the level of work on Nkpolu-Rumuigbo road in Port Harcourt, during an inspection recently.

The resolution of the Senate to direct the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to discontinue fixed charges being collected by Electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) from the consumers has been lauded by power consumers.
A Port Harcourt-based businessman, Elder Tombo Omubo, said such step was even long over-due in checking the excesses of the electricity firms.
Omubo who described fixed charges as another form of fraud which he said had increased undue economic pressure on the power consumers.
He listed fixed charges, estimated billing, and bulk metering as some of the corporate frauds committed by the DISCOs and expressed joy that the step taken by the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly would go a long way in abolishing such practices.
“In civilized practice, payment for services or goods go with corresponding value but the idea of one party in the transaction estimating what the other pays, is totally unacceptable and is tantamount to corporate fraud”, he stated, and wondered how such money collected under estimation could be accounted for.
Another consumer, Charity Ubani, said the step taken by the Senate was in the right direction and urged the lawmakers to always pursue issues that could ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerian masses.
Ubani said she travelled abroad for three months and that when she returned, she saw huge debt heaped on her in the name of fixed charges.
“I called my friend abroad and told her my experience. It is alien to any civilized practice. It is fraud. It is totally nonsense. I commend the Senate and urged them to ensure implementation of the resolution in the interest of Nigerians”, she said.
Also speaking on the issue, Emuka Julius commended the Senate for moving against fixed charges by DISCOs, saying it marks the beginning of a charge that is much desired.
Julius wants Senate not to stop at fixed charges as he rather wants the lawmakers to make it mandatory for DISCOs to provide meter for their customers to also check estimated billing.
He said the power firms had increased supply because of the seriousness of President Mohammadu Buhari unlike in the past administration. He alleged that the focus of the DISCOs was on profit maximization adding that in chasing profit, the firms undermined all ethics in business practice  because appropriate agencies were not bold enough to check their excesses.
According to him, to get the sector fixed, members of NERC and top officials of the Ministry of Power should be probed, remarking that their actions in the past showed that their interest were never with the masses, but the power firms.
It would be recalled that the Senate, on Tuesday directed NERC to abolish the fixed charge on electricity bills as well as discontinue the practice of compulsory bulk metering of villages and communities in the rural areas.
Fixed charge was initially N225 when the Federal Government introduced prepaid meters, but today stands at N700.
The Tide gather that fixed charges are the component of the billing  through which DISCOs replace damaged or faulty facilities as transformers, cables, feeders, amongst others, without bothering the consumer.