Unarguably, electricity customers have never gotten a fair deal from the distribution companies (DisCos) in Nigeria. Instead, outrageous bills have remained their lot. The service providers, every now and then, freely bombard the electricity consumers with outrageous bills even without services rendered. It doesn’t matter to them if the customer didn’t use electricity for months.
It, therefore, implies that presently, all that is required for the service providers to be hitting jackpots from their vulnerable customers is only to be connected to its grid. And failure to pay their arbitrary and outrageous bills subjects the customers to embarrassing disconnections. Still, even when on the disconnection, bills continue to accumulate for the customers.
In most cases, the bills are mischievously overestimated, aimed at putting customers in perpetual debt bondage such that they would always have outstanding bills to settle. The situation is more pathetic during festive seasons or when having personal engagements like parties, naming ceremonies, burial etc. Harassing the vulnerable customers over outstanding bills and demand for informal settlement becomes a viable option.
Sometimes, a room apartment or mini-shop gets as much as N25,000 as monthly consumption bill whether power was supplied or not. And where the customer struggled and paid all, he gets increment in the following bills such that outstanding bills must exist for selfish interests.
The ugly implication of the anomalies is that the arbitrary bills embolden the service providers to relax and remain unproductive since services rendered do not determine earnings but indiscriminate billing system. The glitch encourages laxity as customers are made to pay outrageous bills. It implies that where as little as feeder pillar in the transformer or other accessories require replacement, the service provider may not bother as its earnings are not determined by services rendered as would be the case under a prepaid metering system. On account of this, a whole community over time is abandoned in blackout as long as the DisCo wished despite the fact they ought to generate their incomes from services rendered to the communities. Unfortunately, only prepaid metered customers pay accurately for services rendered while DisCos overbearingly exploit helpless customers on estimation.
Prepaid metering system, therefore, provides an effective mechanism for boosting electricity supplies in the country as the device makes it absolute that only services rendered are paid for. As a matter of fact, the Federal Government has no business banning importation of generators into the country but to ensure that all electricity consumers are metered on pay-as-you-use basis.
The estimated billing system, whether outrageous or underestimated, constitutes threats to economic growth and productivity as it unconsciously provides avenues for exploitation. Every economy grows when citizens and services users pay accurately for services rendered to them. And essentially, it brings some discipline and accountability, thereby eliminates avoidable wastages.
For example, the number of prepaid metered customers that leave power running when away or not needed have drastically reduced if at all they still exist when comparable to those on estimation. The implication of prudently managing the use of electricity is that a lot of energy will be saved for those that actually have good need of them. From a practical study, all the electric lights and gadgets unnecessarily switched-on during the day when not useful are not connected to prepaid metering system.
It is, therefore, imperative that while the Federal Government continues in its onerous drive towards boosting sustainable power generation in the country, a viable mechanism to judiciously manage and checkmate the ones already generated for optimal use should be put in place through prepaid meters. Until all electricity consumers are regulated digitally through prepaid metering system, loss and waste of energy will continue unabated and supply remains inadequate.
The key benefits of the prepaid metering system are emphatically tripartite in nature. Prepaid metering system automatically creates a responsibility and efficiency chain starting from consumers – distribution – generation. For instance, aside making all consumers to strictly and accurately pay for services used, it automatically propels DisCos to go extra miles in improving their services to ensure steady supply knowing that no income is derived without services rendered.
Prepaid metering will also propel the DisCos to ensure at all times that not only adequate power is distributed but supervised to see that it is effectively delivered to customers end-points.
And finally, digital metering conserves energy against the usual wastages as only customers in need of electricity switch on to power for use. The present-day laxity among the distribution companies is because supply or not, majority are on estimated billing system. Hence, their monthly targets are spread to the vulnerable customers on estimated bills with threats of disconnections. The way out of the predicament is simple; compulsory prepaid metering system for all customers and its failure should be taken as economic sabotage.
Umegboro, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja.

Carl Umegboro