Residents of Emerald Court, a housing estate in Gudu district, Abuja have accused UAC Property Development Company of conniving with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, to extort electricity consumers in the estate, who pay as much as N150,000 monthly for power.
They also accused UPDC of illegal generation of electricity, overbilling, disconnection of residents, and failure to separate the public electricity supply from residents’ private lines, as well as violating the Electricity Power Sector Reform Act, EPSRA, 2005, and doing so with the support of the regulator, NERC.
The residents alleged that NERC has refused to sanction UPDC, almost a year after clear illegalities committed by the company were reported to it.
The core of the controversy was the allegation that UPDC installed and operated, within the estate, electricity generating sets with combined capacity of over 1,015 KVA, without an operating license.
A resident of the estate, Odilim Enwagbara, alleged that UPDC has been distributing the generated electricity to residents of the estate, and levying them arbitrarily, without providing meters to determine consumption.
Enwegbara, in his petition to the NERC, said that each of the 42 flats and five service apartments in the high rise section of the estate were required to deposit N1 million every year to take care of electricity bills, subject to a minimum charge of N150,000 every month, irrespective of the consumption of each resident.
It was also said that UPDC replicates the same practice in all its over 16 residential and commercial properties in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.
Part IV, Section 62 of the EPSRA 2005, which established NERC, prohibits generation, distribution and trading in electricity by any person, except in accordance with a licence issued by commission.
Section 62(2) specifically states that “a person may construct, own or operate an undertaking for generating electricity, not exceeding one megawatt in aggregate at a site or an undertaking for distribution for electricity with a capacity not exceeding 100 kilowatts in aggregate at a site, or such other capacity as the Commission may determine from time to time, without licence.”
Section 62 (5) stipulates that “any person who contravenes any of these provision ‘commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N500,000, or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and imprisonment.”
After receiving Enwegbara’s petition, the NERC waded in and its officials visited the estate on March 10, 2016, to confirm the allegations.
The General Manager, (Legal, Licensing and Enforcement Division), Olufunke Dinneh, on April 11, 2016, wrote to UPDC management, confirming the allegation against it, that apart from operating two electricity generating units with combined capacity in excess of the one megawatt limit set in the Act, UPDC’s electricity distribution within the estate was above 100 KW.
The letter explained that documents reviewed from residents by NERC during the visit also revealed that UPDC’s billing system failed to conform to NERC’s regulation.
Mrs. Dinneh said that an analysis of what UPDC levied Enwegbara for January 2014 to January 2015 showed grid supply at N32,123.60, generator supply, N178,914.73; Value Added Tax, N100,289.97 and service charge, N496,030.96.
The letter added, “An appraisal of facts from our investigation, vis-a-vis the provisions of the Act, brings us to no other conclusions than that you are clearly in violation of the Act.”
Almost about a month later, on May 6, 2016, NERC sent another letter to UPDC, directing it to stop its illegal activities and maintain the status quo, by collecting only recognised tariff and refrain from illegally disconnecting residents, pending the final determination of the complaint.
UPDC was also served notice to commence enforcement of NERC rules against it for violating the Act, if within seven days of the receipt of the letter, it did not respond to all the issues and two days later, on May 13, 2016, UPDC requested a meeting with NERC and the petitioner, where UPDC was directed to replace bulk metering with AEDC individual meters to residents within 30 days and report progress to the Commission.
The meeting also resolved to carry the residents along by copying them all correspondences between NERC and UPDC till the matter was settled.
But on May 27, 2016, UPDC wrote to NERC to request that enforcement action should not commence against it, as it had commenced the process of obtaining a captive generation permit, while a consultant would advise on the separation of grid from private electricity supply.
However, contrary to its resolution during the meeting, Enwegbara said NERC deliberately refused to inform residents about UPDC’s moves and its decision to grant a six-month extension for the company to comply with its directive.
According to NERC, during the extension, UPDC would obtain a valid captive power generation permit, provide detailed work plan with specific timelines, stop disconnecting residents and separate public electricity power supply from others.
“The fact that NERC kept residents in the dark about what UPDC was doing only confirms it was more interested in defending and protecting it, to continue defrauding unsuspecting residents of Emerald Court,” Enwegbara said, adding, “Let NERC produce a letter it sent jointly with UPDC to Emerald Court residents and the evidence they agreed that extending the timeline would be in their best interest, while stopping the illegal captive electricity generation and distribution would hurt them.”
He said that residents of Emerald Court had good reason to suspect that NERC officials compromised their job, adding, “If NERC officials were not compromised, how come they failed to sanction UPDC for violating the law? Apart from the N500,000 fine stipulated in the Act for offenders like UPDC, why did NERC not demand the refund of all payments made by residents in excess of the legal electricity bills?
“Clearly, NERC allowed UPDC to get away with the fraud, not only in our estate, but in all properties the company runs across the country.”
On July 18, 2016, Enwegbara protested against NERC’s decision to grant UPDC operating license.
In another petition to the NERC, a copy of which was sent to the Minister of Power, Works and Hosing, Babatunde Fashola, he said, “My greatest disbelief is that NERC, which as a regulator, should be protecting public interest from the illegal and exploitative activities by private companies like UPDC, is not only (failing) to do so, but was in fact providing such public exploiters all the backdoor support to legitimise their exploitation of the unsuspecting public.
“Why is NERC biased and in a hurry to grant UPDC captive license to legitimise its illegal trading in electricity, but reluctant in stopping UPDC from defrauding its unsuspecting residents?”
He gave NERC seven days to respond or risk legal action, while the minister is yet to respond to the petition.
But while all of these were going, the status quo remained, as UPDC continued to bill residents of the estate arbitrarily, in defiance of its agreements with NERC.
The residents said that although bulk supply meters have been installed about a month ago, UPDC is yet to connect them to individual premises as directed, even as it has continued to bill residents arbitrarily, while those who refused to pay get disconnected instantly from public supply.
Enwegbara said, “The so-called meters were only brought in late last month, while the old fraudulent billing system continues to date. It’s almost one year since the petition was sent to NERC, March 7, 2016. Yet, all the delays have been carefully orchestrated to benefit UPDC, since it continues to send residents the illegal bills.”
But UPDC representative, Yemi Ejidiran, declared that the company had complied fully with NERC’s directives on the issues. He however said that he was not permitted to comment on why bulk meters installed at the estate were yet to be connected to individual premises, because according to him, the matter was already in court.
