DISCOS: The same people, the same thing; just a different name!

Two weeks ago, a group of Landlords in the Praise Chapel/Molipa axis of Ijebu Ode got tired of the peculiar challenges they were having with light and they trooped to the Ijebu Ode office of the DISCO. The official there asked them to make N200,000.00 available to buy wire so as to effect some repairs and improve services. When I wondered aloud why and how private operators would ask people to fund the repairs to enable them  collect more money from the customers, the landlord who was a part of the delegation exclaimed: they are the same people; it is the same thing(as in the days of NEPA); it is just that they have a different name! Well, they did not contribute the N200,000.00, the problem is still there and they are planning to ‘occupy’ IBEDC office at Ibadan.

At 9am on 4/10/14, I was at the Okota district office of IKEDC to buy electricity recharge card. There was nobody on duty and there was no assurance that they would come because there  was  ‘odu’ that day(whatever that means) and it was a Saturday so even if they would come, it was too early by 9am . The gateman advised me to either wait or return around 10am but not later than 12 noon. In effect, even if anybody would come around, the fellow would have left by noon. Eventually I came back around 11am, met the fellows and paid. But 50% of the money I paid was deducted as service charge! How on earth can private sector operators not make out time to attend to their customers, and in this case, to collect money?

On 10/10/14, Channels News Report aired a riotous scene at the Akure office of BEDC. The crux of the matter was that customers were finding it difficult to pay! There was only one pay-point for Akure and a neighbouring town, the staff, who lacked courtesy, would be late (they usually sauntered in around 9am),  network was always out-of-stock on their system and customers were subjected to bureaucratic come-today-come-tomorrow treatment! Why should people suffer to pay? Why should BEDC not eagerly, courteously and efficiently collect money from its belaboured customers? On 13/10/14,  Channels  also reported a protest by women at Oba Market, Benin city, who have not had light after they had paid since February 2014.  The traders lamented their plight and implications of the situation: high cost of doing business, health implications of generator fumes, people going back to street trading, general inconvenience to both traders and customers and poor sales as people avoided the market.

I know that these DISCOs are busy dancing with their huge cash inflows from their hostages (customers who have no choice) that they do not care about public perception. But it will interest them that the last time I went home, the Reverend Father who celebrated the mass opined that Disco staff should be treated as  tax collectors or a Gentiles (Mt, 18:17). He also threatened to organize the young boys in the community, arm them with catapults and lay siege on Disco staff who usually come around to disconnect people when the light was scarcely  available and the bills were calculated with an unknown formula. That shows the level of disdain and disgust to which people hold our privatized power-wielders (yes, they wield electricity power!)

You see, some 2000 years ago, Christ was complaining about new wine in an old wine skin. But in this instance, what we actually have is old wine in a badly refurbished wine-skin! Not much has changed between the Discos and Gencos and whatever ‘Cos’ they call themselves, and the ECN/NEPA/PHCN of old; at least not in service delivery, performance and attitude of the staff. Even the rickety and dull coloured PHCN vehicles are still around! They have even blackmailed the government to keep on giving them money, our money, to cover  ‘aggregate baseline losses’ and pay off legacy gas-supply debts to the tune of N213bn. In effect, the government is still subsidizing privatized outfits. What type of privatization is this and why are they behaving as they were persuaded or compelled to buy-off the PHCN undertakings? What will it look like if other industries: medical, telecoms, transport, hold the consumers hostage for environmental failures like bad roads and poor power supply? May be, we should introduce fixed charge for medical treatment, fixed charge for educational services, fixed charges  for flight services!

Femi Kayode was the lecturer who introduced me to marketing in 1978 (at the University of Ibadan). He taught me the, 4Ps, discussed the emergence packaging as the 5th P and introduced me to Phillip Kotler; who wielded and still wields an unparalleled influence on marketing practice and theory. But since then, especially as my encounter with NEPA/PHCN/DISCOS deepened, I have realized that there was something he did not teach me. I have even gone through the works of Professors Onah, Achumba, Ogwu, Adebola and Osuagwu to no avail. There is no marketing model for organisations which have too many customers that are too good to be true and harmful for the organizations growth and survival. As it was before, so it is now: NEPA, PHCN, DISCOs are the only organizations in the whole world that have too many customers for their own good! So, while other organizations are strategizing and adopting the Ps of marketing and the Ps of strategy to attract, satisfy and retain customers, the DISCOS are rather treating the customers with levity! Why won’t they? With service charge-light or no light- and estimated crazy bill-up to N20,000 per flat in some months, they can afford to be complacent. The money flows! That is why there are no meters, no transformers, no wires, no poles,  no response to complaints and indeed, no change between what was and what is. We hope there will be difference between what is and what will be!

Meanwhile, the amount Nigerians spend on petrol and diesel to generate transmit and distribute their own power continues to soar. It is now estimated at N796bn pa. The government also keeps making promises, shifting the goalposts, mentioning conflicting megawatts and mouthing intimidating sums required for the sector. I had thought that after the privatization, the billions from government side would reduce significantly but it appears not to be the case.

As we continue to dance Disco in the dark, three issues must be sorted out and quickly too. The first is the issue of gas supply. An expert in the field has opened my eyes to what gas ought to be sold vis-à-vis its controlled price. If we control the price of lean gas and the producers refuse to sell and we cannot compel them, then it is a no-win situation. One of the reasons  rent control has never worked is that the government does not have its own houses to supply those in need. There may be a need to make the gas available at what the market can support. It will affect the tariff but surely, no bill can be higher than what these Discos are forcing down the throat of customers as at today. The government (NERC et al) cannot pretend to be unaware of these bills. Next is the issue of fixed charge. I don’t know if it is global best practice to just collect money from people for services not rendered and never to be rendered. A minimum-order regime may be worked out but this fixed charge business is barefaced robbery. Finally, people must have meters. Why and how should government allow individuals to levy and collect any charge they like from other individuals just because they provide a sought-after product?   Government and its agencies are actually colluding with these Discos to steal-yes, it is stealing- from Nigerians and this is unacceptable. We thank God that air cannot be privatized and that people can source their own water. If it were not so and if a DISCO kind of arrangement were to be in place… God forbid!

In the absence of fixed charges and when every consumer has a meter, then, the discussion on increasing or not increasing tariffs would become meaningful. Meanwhile, we shall continue to dance disco in the dark, suffering and smiling and hoping that government, our government, should come to our rescue. We are waiting and watching…

Ik Muo