Stories by Musa Adamu
The Port Harcourt Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), has disclosed that it was partnering a bank to provide credit for its customers to support them register for CPMI scheme.
Assistant General Manager, Customer services of the company, Mr Godwin Orovwiroro, said the move was in the bid the overcome the challenges of metering electricity customers in its jurisdiction.
He spoke at the Port Harcourt zone of the public consultation and fact finding mission on the Credited Advance Payment For Metering Implementation (CAPMI), embarked on by the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
According to Mr Orovwiroro, the company had installed over 1,600 meters within the company areas of license.
He further informed that the company was also deploying additional 20,000 meters to its customers and that so far, it had exceeded the number of people who paid for meters.
He said distribution companies (DISCOs) were bound by regulation to refund the money paid for meters by customers under CAPMI scheme, saying any failure to do this, customers could lodge complain with NERC for redress.
“Because the money was advanced to distribution company, the company is expected to pay interest on it to the customer, it is not a free money and the interest is 12 percent.
“The money will be refunded through the fixed charge component, each time you come to vent, there are two ways, either through deduction from the fixed charge or energy,” he said.
He added that when multi-year tariff order II (MYTOII) came into effect in 2012, it was built on the acquisition of meter for customers but that a lot of cost elements came in due to the unbundling and the privatisation which resulted in increase in wage bill, placing DISCOs in position not buoyant enough to meet the 18 months deadline.
Speaking on behalf of the Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, a Commissioner, Dr Abba Ibrahim, said over 50 percent of electricity consumers were not metered, saying had necessitated the subjection to estimated billings, also known as ‘crazy billings’ in Nigeria.
“CAPMI which came into effect through NERC Order 05 in 2013 is a stop-gap measure to ensure that people have meters. A lot of people have and are still complaining on the crazy billing otherwise known as estimated billing. Hence, NERC in consultation with other stakeholders came up with the scheme called CAPMI to mitigate their sufferings,” he said.
He explained that the scheme enables willing customers who cannot wait for their distribution companies to come up with their own metering plan to make deposit and get a meter not later than 45 days and get a rebate from the fixed charge component of the bill which would be a discount from the fixed charge for a duration of 2 years.
“Ideally, it is the distribution company that should provide the customers in its jurisdiction with meters, but we understood that they had no fund to do it, hence we came with CAPMI.”