Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu has been accused of insincerity and unseriousness over his directive on prepaid meters.
Orijoreporter recalls that the minister last Thursday during an on-site inspection of newly imported smart meters at APM Terminals at Apapa, Lagos, said that the meters were procured under the World Bank–funded Distribution Sector Recovery Programme and ordered the installation for consumers free of charge.
“I want to mention that it is unprecedented that these meters are to be installed and distributed to consumers free of charge—free of charge! Nobody should collect money from any consumer. It is an illegality. It is an offence for the officials of distribution companies across Nigeria to request a dime before installation; even the indirect installers cannot ask consumers for a dime.
“It has to be installed free of charge so that billings and collections will improve for the sector,” Adelabu declared.
To power distribution companies, the minister’s statement was a mere rhetoric that lacked sincerity and without considering market reality.
This, is according to Punchng quoting multiple anonymous sources in the power industry.
“We need to know that meter installers are not staff of the DisCos. They are already asking who will pay them if the consumers do not pay. Did the minister consider all those? You said the people should not pay the installers; who should pay them? We, the DisCos, are not the ones installing meters. That role was taken away from the DisCos when Babatunde Fashola was the power minister.
“They said the DisCos have no business with metering. This is the result we are seeing today. Assuming the DisCos are the ones installing meters, you can force them to pay. We will all see the outcome of that pronouncement in the coming days. If the government can pay installers, no problem, but I’m not sure any DisCo will volunteer to pay the installers,” it quoted one of the commentators as saying.
According to another as per the report: “The statement was just a populist statement from a politician. We are not sure if the President sent him that message. He said everything should be free; where is the position of cost recovery? Anything you do in the power sector, you have to first consider who bears the cost. Somebody has to bear the cost to avoid debt piling up.
“The government ought to sit with the Discos and the meter manufacturers to seek advice if the plan is to make sure the people don’t bear any cost, and we will come up with our various contributions. But instead of doing that, the government would go and make unrealistic promises to the public. For instance, the meters are coming in batches, but you have made the masses believe that there are enough meters for everyone. That’s not the reality.”
