Measurement and evaluation of bills sent by power utility companies to consumers of electricity in Nigeria

H.c Onyeoru

doi:10.4314/jasem.v23i4.31

Abstract

The present method of Electricity Billing in Nigeria is very elaborate cumbersome, and inaccurate. In this method, consumers of Electricity are not properly billed according to the energy they consumed. No accurate method of determining consumer’s energy consumption by PUC has been made public. Rather, they choose to bill consumers arbitrarily.This has not only made consumers to pay for energy not consumed or are left to huge amount of money as debt accrued to the Power Company involved. This has continued to generate rancor and acrimonies among consumers and staff of PUC who would want the former to pay for the huge debt they are owing by all means. This investigation therefore seek ways of finding lasting solution to eradicate the imbroglio among consumers and suppliers of Electricity nationwide. Keywords: Power Utility Companies (PUC), Consumers, Suppliers, Electricity, Bills, Energy Consumption

Highlights

In this method, consumers of Electricity are not properly billed according to the energy they consumed
As the World economy becomes increasingly dependent on Technology that requires highly reliable electric power, reliable and qualitative electricity has been observed as a sine qua non element for modern living (Ali et al, 2004).On a global scale, reliable electric power availability has been observed as effective and indispensable machinery for industrial and economic growth of any nation (Megbowon and Onyebisi 2005) by its importance in the society and it's necessity for national economic growth, Electrical Energy Supply is expected to be available 24 a day (Jide et al, 2011).Based on this importance, it is expected that electric power utilities through out the World must ensure they meet customer demands at a resonable level of service reliability (Jide et al, 2011)
From the above,it can be infered that charges as bills sent to consumers of Electricity by public power suppliers is on the high side and does not comesurate the amount of electricity supplied.This abysmal charges has called for great concern both from government and individual consumers of public electricity in Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

Consumers of Electricity are not properly billed according to the energy they consumed. The power service providers uses what they called Estimated Billing System (EBS) to charge consumes of their consumptions This process has encouraged lot of lapses in the power supply industries. Even when meters are available, the meters are not read at all or are read and wrongly interpreted intentionally.This scenario has left so many consumers most especially the rural dwellers in delima as they rather choose to abandon the use of public power supply for individual means of power supply This on other hand has made them to suffer huge economic losses to fossil fuel and other alternative means of power Supply.

Objectives

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Conclusion