Permit me to confess – I am not too familiar with the Dr. Sam Amadi –
the Civil Rights Activist. But I guess he must have been quite active
that his credentials as one is so often touted. President Jonathan cited
it. Journalists cite it. His aide who was a guest on ChannelsTV
programme last week never stopped reminding us of this fact, also.
Obviously, Dr. Amadi enjoys being identified with this constituency.
Perhaps, a lot of the goodwill he enjoys comes on account of his
erstwhile membership of the civil rights community. But as one of the
many PHCN customers, the Dr. Amadi that comes to my mind is the one who
has been in our face, for a while now, as the Chairman of the Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The Dr. Amadi I know is the one who was all over the place, pushing
the proposal for a new electricity tariff against simple logic. The one
who was not to agree to the argument by many that he was putting the
cart before the horse by hiking tariffs for a commodity that was short
in supply. Why not fix the supply and distribution side first? Why not
address the weak regulatory framework before increasing tariffs? Why not
first address the other components of your mandate that have to do with
adequate supply and consumer protection? Why not get the Distribution
companies (DISCOS) set up the Consumer Complaints Units you mandated
them to do before increasing tariffs? Why not finish with consumer Forum
offices first? These questions, among others, were posed to Dr. Amadi
then. Rather than address them, he said, not to worry, that we should
trust him.
We reminded him then that PHCN largely operated with a
non-functioning metering system, that only a few of the consumers have
pre-paid meters, with so many battling with epileptic analogue post-paid
meters. Dr. Amadi said not to worry, all PHCN customers would be
supplied with free pre-paid meters, even when those who had paid
official and under-the table fees for same pre-paid meters have not been
supplied, months after. We argued that increasing tarifs will only make
life more difficult for majority of Nigerians who live below the
poverty line. Dr. Amadi waved a magic wand – his proposed hike would
actually lighten the burden on the masses. They will be paying less for
power under the new scheme. Really? He talked about the categorisations –
R1, R2, R3, with the R1 customersexempted from payment of the fixed
charge. But how are the poor to be identified? By geographical location,
or what? The explanation was anything but convincing. It came as no
surprise, as alleged by some, that no customer on Eko Distribution
company which covers half of Lagos, is on the R1 plan.
Perhaps, there is no low-income earner in that territory! That is
understandable, if you consider NERC’s methodology. According to NERC,
R1 customers are those on maximum consumption of 50KWH in a month. How
smart! Who does not not know that most of the people in the targeted
class live in apartments with shared facilities (Face me, I face you),
with all the rooms placed on a single meter? Is NERC pretending not to
know this? Was the Civil Rights Activist a part of this clever-by-half
policy purportedly meant to cater for the poor? Can this be the same
regulatory agency, he said will right all wrongs.
Did this NERC ever consider power as an essential cost-component,
especially for small businesses? If it did, how could it lump all
consumers who use their premises “for any purpose other than exclusively
as a residence” in the commerical category? How is it that people in
the informal sector who barely get by, trading in shops and kiosks,
would have to pay the exorbitant commercial rates? Is there any
consideration for power as a tool for generating employment and
creating jobs in the drafting of this tariff plan? One would have
thought the informal sector players will be placed in the ‘Special’
category in which NERC placed religious houses and educational
institutions.
It is interesting to see an institution set up by the government
projecting that the Naira will continue to lose value, an assumption
around which its multi-year tariff plan is built. It projects the Naira
exchanging at N196 for a Dollar in 2016. The charges that have only been
recently hiked will again be going up next year, according to NERC. The
fixed charge (fee paid irrespective of usage) for R2 which for now is
N500 per month, is to go as high as N2,363 per month by 2016. The R4
fixed charge which is presently as high as N156,136 per month will be
N1,024, 695 per month in 2016. These charges are exclusive of the
consumption charges, based on the new tariff, that are still to be
added. It is obvious where the priority lies for NERC. Its Multi-Year
Tariff Order cleverly put together is all about guaranteeing prepared
meal for the DISCOS and the new big boys now on the block. It is easy to
see why NERC has been up and about canvassing for the new tariffs,
touted as what will bring in new investors. If one may ask, what
happened to the template used in the GSM auction? Did anyone fix tariffs
ahead of the auctioning of GSM licences?
Whoever has been slapped with what, in PHCN lingo, is known as crazy
bill, knows how crazy it can be trying to make a case before PHCN
officials for rectification. The officials are quick to manufacture all
kinds of reasons to absolve PHCN of any fault. The standard advice is –
pay the bill first, something will be done later. But there is hardly a
chance that anything will ever be done to rectify it. When I received a
crazy bill in February which was double the previous month’s bill, even
as supply had dipped considerably and I had not consumed power
irregularly, I lodged a complaint to PHCN. Eventually I paid, in
protest, to avoid disconnection that would have affected others (a
single cable supplies power to the building). The following month was
bearable, but the bill for April again shot up by another 400% (In fact,
the bill for April is double that for August, in spite of the increase
in tariff since June and more regular power supply ever since). So
beyond the complaint to PHCN on the April bill, I decided to engage with
the regulator, NERC. A mail to NERC only came back with an
auto-responder acknowledging receipt, but nothing else. So I opted to
present the case to Dr. Sam Amadi, the Chairman of NERC. To his credit,
he responded, and requested for details and copies of the bill. I
forwarded them to him in June. But apart from the comforting words from
Dr. Amadi that “it is difficult to say what is wrong...”, I have not
heard from him since, 4 months after. Till date, PHCN officials remain
incoherent and contradictory in their explanations. I had asked PHCN to
provide data of power supply for the months in contention, to enable us
interrogate the inverse relationship between supply and billing. Still
waiting for that, months after. NERC says it is difficult to know what
is wrong. So, what do we do? Fold our arms and simply wait? But that was
not the impression I got from Dr. Sam Amadi’s public advocacy prior to
the increase in tariffs. Suddenly, he has gone quiet. What has become of
the rights of the consumers? Tariffs have gone through the roofs, with
crazy bills slapped on so many people, yet consumers have nowhere to
turn.
Whoever sees Dr. Amadi should remind him of the several promises he
made, when he was busy convincing us of the wisdom in putting the
tariff-cart before the foundational horse of supply and robust consumer
platform. Whoever sees Dr. Amadi should please ask him what has become
of the free pre-paid meters he promised us. Some of us have even gone
ahead to pay, yet we have not been supplied. If you happen to see Dr.
Sam Amadi, the Civil Rights activist, please let him know that the
masses are shut out of his R1 class. Please let him know it’s time we go
beyond the ‘methodologies’ and get down to the specifics of how these
tariffs have impacted our lives. He needs to explain to us why the fixed
energy charges have to keep rising, even beyond 2013, when the
so-called subsidy by the government would have been fully removed,
according to NERC projections. If you run into Dr. Amadi, tell him we
need more than the consumer fora he is taking round cities across six
zones, with the grand finale holding at Abuja. We need a functional and
accessible customer complaints platform. Who do we reach? Where do we
reach them? Can he start by making the NERC Consumer Affairs unit
responsive? We need him to avail us of how much progress has been made
with the supply of power and the metering process. We need him to
explain how these crazy tariffs that are to go up again in 2013, and
every year thereafter, can be justified in the face of the monopoly of
the day and the oligopoly that is soon to take charge. If you see Dr.
Amadi, please let him know I am looking forward to hearing from him.
Simbo Olorunfemi
perfect money
perfect money perfect for business
