Assembly Summons Kogi PHCN Manager Over Alleged Exploitation of Consumers

304
Spread the love

The Kogi House of Assembly has summoned the Lokoja business manager of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) over what it called incessant exploitation of electricity consumers in the state.

The House issued the summon on Friday in a resolution, following the adoption of a motion under Urgent Public Importance moved by Alhaji Suleiman Babadoko (PDP-Lokoja 1), urging the PHCN to stop the exploitation.

“We support, with no reservation, the unbundling of the PHCN vis-à-vis the privatisation of key structures in the power generation, transmission and distribution in Nigeria. We believe this is the way forward for our dear country,” he said.

According to him, the resulting exploitation of consumers, in the name of maintenance service charge or fixed charge and unreasonable estimated billings, causing so many families untold pains, should not be treated with levity.

Babadoko said the PHCN had defied instructions by the Nigeria Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) for them to read meters and charge consumers accordingly, rather than estimating bills to meet their revenue targets.

He said a situation where consumers pay for meters, cables and poles for connection, only to be confronted with high estimated bills, in addition to maintenance charges, VAT charges and connection fees, was too much for the consumers.

Seconding the motion, the Majority Leader of the House, Alhaji Yakubu Yunusa, urged the distribution companies (DISCOs) not to frustrate the good intention of the federal government in the power sector reforms.

Yunusa noted that in view of the security challenges in the country, there was need to summon the PHCN manager for an amicable resolution to avoid street protests by consumers in the bid to fight the illegal charges.

The speaker, Alhaji Momoh-Jimoh Lawal, however, directed the clerk of the house to officially summon the business manager for clarification of issues and possible resolution.

Source


Spread the love



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *