In an interview granted to the Vanguard, the Principal Manager, Public Affairs, Eko Distribution Zone of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in Lagos, Mr. Godwin Idemudia has shed more light on some issues that customers have with the company.
On what it takes to get the newly introduced prepaid meter, Idemudia said, “As at June of 2012 the Federal Government stopped it that we should not be collecting money to distribute prepaid meters any more but before June we used to charge money for distribution of prepaid meters… What happens now is that if you want a prepaid meter you applied, stating your address and other details then we come to inspect the property, essentially the load to know what you need and we start processing for procurement of the meter. As soon as we have the meter we deploy.”
However, on the issue of the monthly charges of N500 for using power, Idemudia said it is not only in order but, “It is by law made mandatory by NERC.” He also indicated that the high bills which a lot of people are now complaining about is to be expected.
According to him: “See, it is simple, with increase in supply all your appliances tend to be in use and of course you should expect a bill higher than when supply was low. It is not possible you get a bill that does not reflect the amount of power used in that period. The phenomenon of ‘’crazy bill’ does not exist anymore.”
Culled from the Vanguard
