Ideally , electricity consumers are not supposed to buy meters ; it should be provided for them by the authorities . During negotiation for the privatisation process, what was agreed was that transmission companies should provide meters for consumers . Even if consumers buy meters , such meters remain the companies ’ property. What consumers normally pay for is connection fee and not for the purchase of meters . Why must they buy a property which they cannot own?
If transmission companies cannot provide enough of these meters , and consumers are made to pay for them , the money paid should be deducted from their electricity bills over a period of time until amounts paid are fully deducted. Since the companies cannot provide sufficient meters to solve the problem , consumers may be allowed to buy their meters .
The best way to solve the problem of meter scarcity is for the companies to buy them in bulk but because they do not have the financial capacity, the government is supposed to come in . Government should buy the meters and recoup its money from the transmission companies . The meter is the instrument that can measure accurately what a consumer uses . It is for the benefit of both the consumers and the transmission companies . The companies will not be short -changed and the consumers will not be overbilled . But in the absence of sufficient meters , either the consumers or the companies are being cheated . • Aliyu Mshelinga (Deputy National President , National Union of Electricity Employees , Northern Zone )
Recently, the immediate past chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr Sam Amadi , confirmed that consumers are the ones that suffer when major players in the sector are involved in a fight , particularly with respect to metering . This was why I was blunt in my interview on NTA , where I called on the President to intervene in the power sector .
The truth is that we require a national emergency in the Nigerian power sector . We cannot continue moving round in one place. Now, since the distribution companies have been given licences to distribute electricity to consumers , it presupposes that they have all it takes to perform that assignment . And I think it was on that basis that those licences were conceded to them .
Consumers are buying meters because they are tired of excuses and are giving the distribution companies loans in advance through the purchase of meters . But unfortunately, this has caused double jeopardy for the Nigerian consumers because so many people have paid for meters and up till now, they have not been metered . Hundreds of consumers call the association from various states to complain that there are no meters despite the fact that they have paid for them. This is not fair . •Chijioke James (President, Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria)
It is not the responsibility of electricity consumers to pay for meters . Meters are required by the electricity distribution companies to measure the volume of power they are selling to their consumers ; be it residential or industrial. However, since it has been established that the DISCOS are fond of issuing credit bills through the estimated billing system regime , the option provided by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission which is credit advance payment for metering implementation should be encouraged .
The implication is that the consumers can pay ahead for speedy installation of their meters while the DISCOS will give credit to the consumers that have paid for the meters . Outside that , consumers have no responsibilities to pay for meters . What the electricity companies are doing is compared to what the communication companies are also doing in terms of metering . It is just like asking telecommunication service providers to tell consumers to pay for the equipment used in measuring call or data consumption before connection . It is wrong ; consumers cannot pay for meters . It is the duty of the service provider who wants to measure how much a client is consuming to provide meter for that measurement. •Chief James Emadoye (Fellow , Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria)
All the electricity distribution companies are now private firms . They are no longer under the government. If a private individual is doing business , it is his job to provide service and for the consumers to pay for such service . It is wrong for the consumers to provide facilities for a businessman and also pay the same businessman for the service being rendered. It is a daylight robbery.
It is the duty of the electricity distribution companies to give out prepaid meters free of charge to their consumers because it is part of the facilities they are using in providing the services which the consumers pay for . Paying for prepaid meters is illegal . It is an illegal arrangement because it is their responsibility to provide meters . Whatever they are doing on it is unfair and that is part of the corruption we are talking about within the system .
Already , there are rules governing these things . But the government of the day does not have the will to enforce the rules to regulate the firms. The rules are there ; so there is no need for new laws to be made to regulate the excesses of the companies . Consumer agencies should be active , because people have not been doing their jobs . Consumers should know their rights . There are some court cases that the courts have asked the electricity distribution companies to do the right thing . The private man doing his business should be able to provide quality facilities for his business because he is being paid. • Mr . Sotonye Koko ( A Port Harcourt -based public affairs analyst and legal practitioner)
I think it is proper for electricity distribution companies to give out meters to electricity consumers . The meters are not the property of the consumers and I think you can remember that government was the one giving out meters to electricity consumers when the Federal Government was fully in charge of electricity generation , transmission and distribution .
Now that private companies have taken over , I think the best thing to do is that they (the companies ) should continue with that tradition . But I think they can charge them some amount for the usage of the meters on a monthly basis . The National Electricity Regulations Commission recently said that DISCOs should give meters to electricity consumers . So, I don ’ t think these companies should contravene this directive .
But the situation we now have at hand is that consumers are the ones paying for meters , which should not be . It is an anomaly which has to stop . Consumers should not be made to buy something that they can ’ t eventually claim as property. This is fraudulent and it should not be allowed to continue .
I want the NERC to intervene and ensure that electricity consumers are saved from this practice. Consumers should be given the meters while the DISCOs should be at liberty to charge them for using such meters on a monthly basis , but the charges must not be high . • Mr . Kayode Adebisi (Osun - based legal practitioner )
The power sector has become one that has defied all solutions owing to promises by successive administrations. The current government promised Nigerians 24 hours of power supply during its electioneering . At this critical point in time , one is forced to doubt the sincerity of the government in putting an end to the challenges in the power sector .
I believe the new policy thrust of the government vis - à - vis the purchase of meters by customers is to stylishly solve problems of shortage of meters which have been the basis of major agitations by citizens over the years .
The purchase of meters by customers is not new . During the era of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria , there was a similar scheme known as Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation . In this scheme , customers pay for meters and cost of purchase is refunded in instalments as customers vend. As far I am concerned , that did not address the shortages in metering as many customers could not take delivery of their meters due to disappointment from the electricity companies , having paid for same up till the absolute privatisation of the sector .
I support that customers should be allowed to buy their meters inasmuch as there won’ t be delay in delivery because from all indications , it seems the distribution companies are incapacitated. However, money spent by customers should be paid back in full with interest . I think what the Federal Government seeks to achieve with the new policy is to enable other investors to come in as independent meter manufacturers or suppliers to bridge the gap in metering


source : http://punchng.com/should-electricity-consumers-buy-their-own-meters/