The flag-off of the National Mass Metering Scheme (NMMS) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Monday, November 9, 2020 rather kicked up dust on whether or not the meters are free. This led to stern faces and tongue-lashing which almost marred the event at the headquarters of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHED) on Moscow Road.
Under the NMMP, the Federal Government plans to roll out 6 million meters for all connection points on the grid without meters over the next 18 to 24 months. It is estimated that this will impact 30 million consumers.
The stir in Port Harcourt started during the Q&A segment when a customer wanted to know if those who had paid for meters would be refunded.
The PHED under the new CEO, Henry Ajagbawa, desiring to break the deadlock in payment of bills because of anger over estimated bills, had launched a mass metering scheme with bank-backed funding. This was shortly before the current FG scheme kicked in.
Ajagbawa in his presentation said the mass metering scheme by the FG is not optional because every customer must be metered. Even though he did not say outright that the meter is free, those who had paid for meters earlier said they wanted a refund. The CEO clarified that the FG would let them know if customers would pay or not, but that since the fund is a loan, the answer should be obvious.
In contrast, Ikeja DisCo, in a statement on October 30 when it commenced the rollout of prepaid meters under the NMMP, had been clear that the cost of the meters would be recovered through modalities that would be communicated to beneficiaries in due course.
“Beneficiaries of this programme, which will cut across all locations in IE network, will not be required to pay upfront for the installation of meters. Rather, the modalities of cost recovery for the meters will be clearly defined and communicated to the beneficiaries,” the company said.
In response to Ajagbawa, Enefaa Georgewill, who has led the civil society groups in Rivers State to many battles including the Chima Ikwunado killing by E-Crack Squad and Ikokwu 4, sprang up to state that the PHED was wrong to summon the audience without knowing whether the meters were free or not.
He quoted laws that said as condition for privatising the distribution of power, meters were to be provided free so that customers would know what they paid. He said it would be wrong for the PHED management to say it did not know if meters were free or not.
The CEO sprang back to the podium and sternly debunked the position of the RivCSO, saying the NERC had its own laws which permitted the DisCos to charge for meters. He accused Georgewill of quoting inferior law and did not allow him back to the podium to restate his position.
But Georgewill, who kept shaking his head in disagreement, later told newsmen that RivCSO, being an organisation that has been in the forefront calling for metering of all PHEDC customers and an end to estimated billing, would have been happy with the mass metering programme but is not because it’s much ado about nothing.
“Why are the federal government and PHED making a big deal about what ordinarily ought to be their job? What would have been big deal is if the federal government through NERC had directed DisCos to give out the meter free as it ought to be or in the minimum transfer the burden of selling these meters to private businessmen for the price to be cheap and affordable.
“This way, the consumers will own the meters they buy with their own money and not a situation where consumers are forced to buy meter from PHED and it will still be owned by PHEDC. This is not right. Mobile telecommunications network providers don’t sell phones and phones bought by customers belong to the customers, not the network providers,” he said.
The NERC Forum secretary for Port Harcourt, Pamela Akubue, who watched the proceedings, did not get near the raging controversy when she made her remarks.
“This initiative is fully supported by the NERC. Huge bypass is going on in the industry, so let us stop it with mass metering. This management has demonstrated serious determination to get things right. They deserve support. Mass metering must succeed,” Akubue said.
