BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
The authorities of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company said, on Tuesday, that it incurred a total of N1.6billion monthly from estimated billing and related metering problems.
The Chief Operating Officer of the IBEDC, Mr John Ayodele, made the disclosure in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, during its mid-year press conference held at the Jogor Event Centre, Liberty Road.
IBEDC, the largest DISCO in Nigeria, covering Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara and part of Kogi, Ekiti and Niger states, disclosed on the occasion that was also attended by representatives of the civil society groups within its franchise area that as at December 2020, it had a total of 1,973,450 active customers with total energy received estimated at 3,986 GWh; energy sales, 2,842 GWh; and annual total of N97,061million billed to customers at the time under review.
Ayodele listed the challenges besetting the company to include sharp practices by its consumers, saying that many of them bypassed the meters while some elements vandalized electricity infrastructure within the community.
With the increasing poverty in the land making it difficult for many to pay electricity bill, Ayodele said that IBEDC was operating in a very difficult terrain and at a loss.
He said, “Ninety per cent of those complaining of estimated billing in the real sense of it does not want meters. They are comfortable with the N3,000 billing that we are giving them monthly because many are using more than the amount.
“We are losing money. We are losing about N1.6billion to estimated billing alone. There is a lot of problem with metering. We are running at a loss. If it is not a business that it is tied to service, the company would have been bankrupt by now,” he said.
He urged members of the public to partner IBEDC for better services, saying, “If you have anybody who is ready to partner with us, we would welcome such.
“It is not in our interest to be doing capping. It is a disaster to the DISCOs. As much as possible, I want to meter everybody because once there is a meter, you cannot dispute the usage of electricity.
“People would watch others vandalize their transformers and pretend that they didn’t see it. The following day, they would come to us claiming that they thought that those they saw were our people.
“If people don’t help to minimize the amount of vandalism that we have, we can’t cope. We cannot tell lies about it. Every week, two or three transformers are being vandalized, lines are being vandalized, conductors are being vandalized.
“The overhead cable that is the connection between transformers, because it is made of copper, are being vandalized on a daily basis. We are operating on a very difficult terrain. People shun paying their money, some would lament the economic situation and when they tell you their stories you would even pity them. The harsh economic reality is making payment of bills difficult.
“Tariff is not set by us alone because people often think it’s all DISCO’s tariff. Tariff is set in stages. The power generation people will come with their own tariff and the transmission people will bring their own tariff before even thinking of distribution cost.”
