Rights group the Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development, FENRAD, has called for an end to the regime of average vending, another name for estimated billing, of customers within the Aba Ring-Fenced Area, which was handed over to Aba Power Limited Electric, APLE.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) handed over the power in 2022 following a landmark ruling by the Industrial Court.
Hopes were initially high that things would change for the better.
However, the FENRAD Executive Director, Nelson Nwafor, said on Wednesday that their findings showed that there are grey areas the Aba-based electricity distribution company has yet to address.
According to FENRAD, a pro-democracy and environmental rights-focused civil society group in Abia State, Aba Power Limited Electric, APLE, having failed to meter Aba customers as promised earlier, resorted to what it calls ‘average vending’ in billing unmetered consumers, which it considers a breach of the Provision in the Power Sector Reforms Act.
This means billing unmetered consumers based on the average amount of energy consumed by energy users in the same feeder.
The group queried how reliable and accurate the system is, noting that it has discovered that it shortchanges poor consumers who do not use many electrical/electronic gadgets at home but are, under this arrangement, being billed crazily.
“The current tariff regime is not in tandem with the Aba earning capacity, even though Aba Power Limited is citing a rise in the cost of operation, inflation, and foreign exchange liquidity problem. In some places in Aba, we discovered that residents and businesses pay more for the consumption of near-unavailable energy than their monthly and annual house rents.
“Some unmetered consumers who live in a two-/three-room rented apartment (flat) in the Ogbor Hill axis pay as high as ₦45,000 to N50,000 monthly, some pay more.
“When this is considered vis-a-vis the ₦70,000 minimum wage, one could only wonder how the average Aba worker takes care of basic needs like feeding, clothing and shelter,” Nwafor said.
The FENRAD boss described as worrisome, the level of epileptic supply, saying the power company couldn’t fulfill the hours of supply as contained in the tariffs order, which have Band A, B, & C and the Hours of energy supply each day for the Band
He also said that the company has yet to obey a subsisting court injunction mandating it to stop disconnection in the city, noting that disconnection continued after the court order.
He says this makes the company a corporate lawbreaker instead of a good corporate citizen.
“Again, against the provision of regulatory laws and industry practice, APLE workers still seize people’s cable after disconnection. While non-payment of bills attracts supply disconnection, nothing guarantees confiscation of cable or wire.
“Businesses are going under by the day due to high electricity tariffs. With the current regime owners of businesses and industries may be discouraged or may even divest, and this takes a toll on investment and the ease of doing business in Aba and it’s enviros.
“It is horrible that after all the initial claims of having the capacity to install or maintain an independent power plant, the Geometric Power Limited (whose subsidiary is Aba Power Limited Electric, APLE), still depends on the national grid, and still uses old and moribund equipment that should have been evacuated.
“The FENRAD calls on the company to accelerate the Meter Asset Programme, MAP to enable it to meter all consumers, Open dialogue with Aba Resident on the workable tariffs order, and broader her community engagement and interface,” he said.
