Citizen Awoseyin and the pains of being a Nigerian citizen

IT would appear that the corruption and inefficiency that constituted the bane of public corporations providing utilities in the country, leading to their virtual collapse before they were hurriedly privatised, still remain their major undoing. Instead of prioritising good service and customer satisfaction, a single-minded emphasis on revenue generation, much of which goes into private pockets, still remains their focus. In the power sector, for instance, electricity supply remains inadequate and unreliable, yet clients are required to pay for services they did not receive. That is one of the reasons the estimated billing system still subsists many years after the introduction of prepaid metres. The expectation was that with the privatisation of the power sector, the successor companies, especially the Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), would behave as typical businesses which prioritise customer satisfaction as a means of achieving their revenue objectives. But that has not been the case; they have continued to put the cart before the horse, trying to attain revenue goals willy-nilly with little or no consideration for quality customer service.

The case of Citizen Raphael Awoseyin, whom the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) attempted to fleece of his hard-earned income, lucidly brings to the fore the faulty approach of the distribution companies to doing business. The story is that Citizen Awoseyin had installed an 18-kilowatt solar power system as a source of electricity supply to his private property located in the Lekki axis of Lagos State. He made the investment apparently because of the unreliable supply from the distribution company. The installation of solar power considerably reduced his dependence on the company’s electricity supply. Indeed, EKEDC’s supply had been relegated to a backup source during dark hours, while he relied on solar energy to meet his daytime electricity needs. And since Awoseyin is on a prepaid metre, the registered consumption of electricity from the national grid on his meter was insignificant, which meant reduced revenue to EKEDC. However, the company would have none of that: they slammed him with a demand notice to the tune of N112,606, which was disingenuously labelled “loss of revenue”.

Pray, how does anyone lose revenue over an offering that was neither bought nor used? Apparently, if Awoseyin were on the estimated billing system, his significant switch to an alternative source of electricity would not have reflected as a reduction in his electricity bill. Thank goodness that he is enlightened and ready to push back to ensure that he does not pay for electricity he did not consume. His protest attracted the attention of the regulatory authority in the power sector, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). Hopefully, the positive intervention of the regulatory authority, after the matter was escalated to it, will put an end to the unwarranted harassment of electricity consumers by DisCo officials.

READ ALSO: Resetting the power sector

This story illustrates many of the dilemmas facing the average Nigerian citizen. After taking on municipal functions, doing things the government should be doing, you are still confronted with entitled officials who insist that you pay for services not rendered, just like in the instant case. This absurdity is not limited to electricity supply: today, in many states of Nigeria, individuals and organisations wishing to provide water for their own use by digging boreholes on their premises are required to pay certain fees to the government. Is it not ironic that citizens and businesses are being coerced to reward official incompetence? If the government had provided reticulated water to every home, business and public building, no one would be spending money to sink boreholes. Another dilemma is: if every Nigerian keeps installing solar power, is it safe for the environment in the long run? And even if adverse consequences will attend the preponderance of citizens installing solar power in their homes, how do you tell people not to adopt solar or any other alternative source of electricity when the government will not give them adequate power?

Citizen Awoseyin mirrors the plight of Nigerians who are trying to fill the yawning gap left by the government in terms of delivery of public utilities, especially electricity, but still have to contend with the high-handedness of officials. Imagine what would have happened if Awoseyin were illiterate, unexposed, or did not have the resources and commitment to fight back: he would have been repressed and condemned to suffer grave but clearly avoidable economic losses. The incident under reference occurred in Lagos, but there are indications that it is a pervasive trend across the country. For instance, personnel of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) have reportedly been harassing customers in Ibadan, seizing their prepaid meters and saying they must obtain new ones. Meanwhile, the new meters, which are to be paid for by the customers, are said to guzzle money at a rate that is considered unusually rapid. But for Citizen Awoseyin, who refused to keep quiet, and social media, which helped to amplify his voice, EKEDC would have got away with outright intimidation and extortion of an innocent electricity consumer. To be sure, it is not a crime to limit electricity usage from the grid, and indeed, there is no known law banning a citizen from disconnecting from the grid altogether. It should be noted that in March 2023, the then President of Nigeria, the late Muhammadu Buhari, signed a constitutional amendment into law, moving power generation, transmission and distribution from the Exclusive Legislative List to the Concurrent Legislative List. The full import of this significant constitutional amendment should not be lost on anyone.

The regulatory agencies in the power sector have got to up their game and ensure that innocent citizens are not repressed by overzealous officials of the DisCos. The rules of engagement should be lucidly spelt out and made known to both DisCo officials and consumers so that the former can no longer cash in on the ignorance of the latter to intimidate and extort them. In an ideal situation, EKEDC could even buy extra energy from Awoseyin and sell to other consumers, especially during interruptions, while both parties carry out periodic reconciliation. With the current situation, DisCos stand to lose significant revenue, but then consumers lacking the wherewithal to install solar power in their homes will suffer. In other words, the overall effect on the system is negative. It is high time DisCos retooled their business model, prioritised customer satisfaction, and shunned the incompetence and corruption associated with their operations. They cannot continue to operate in an archaic way, physically harassing and intimidating customers for no just cause in this digital age.