The Managing Director of 4Power Company, the core investor of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), Mr Mathew Edevbie, has alleged that workers of the utility company are constantly being molested and beaten up by military and paramilitary officers over unpaid electricity bills.
Edevbie lodged the complaints while playing host to the management of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), who were in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on post privatisation monitoring exercise.
The 4Power Company boss informed the monitoring team that the company had evolved a robust master plan to give efficient and quality service to its customers.
While urging all stakeholders to effectively manage expectations in the power sector, he appealed to electricity consumers in the country to be patient with the new owners, as effective power supply would not be achieved overnight.
He decried the attitude of some highly-placed individuals in the society in the area of coverage of the PHEDC who by-pass meters and deliberately refuse to pay their bills or order the security men attached to their homes to beat up officials of the company who go to disconnect light in their homes over unpaid bills.
The MD advised electricity consumers to note that contrary to their understanding, electricity was consumed by volume and not the period of consumption “hence, oftentimes, bills are issued to consumers for previous consumption when they have black out for a given time.”
Edevbie appealed to BPE and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to review some of their laws in order not to strangulate the power companies.
Responding, the Director General of BPE, Mr Benjamin Dikki, urged owners of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Successor Companies (SCs) to liaise with security agencies in the country to check the reported cases of vandalism, harassment and assault on personnel of the power companies over unpaid electricity bills.
The Director-General, who was represented by the Director, Post Privatisation Monitoring Department of BPE, Mallam Ibrahim Kashim, noted that it was no longer business as usual in the power sector as Nigerians, irrespective of their status, must be prepared to pay for the services rendered by the power companies.
Dikki said if Nigerians expected efficient and reliable power supply from the core investors “they must be prepared to pay their bills as it was no longer a government asset.”
