Like most consumers, I won’t pay bill in absence of electricity -Fashola

Nigerian Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has said that he would not do anything differently from resisting paying his electricity bill like most Nigerian consumers do, in a situation where there is no electricity supply.

According to the former Lagos State governor, consumers ordinarily would be resistant to payment of electricity bill whereby they do not have electricity, adding that should he find himself in their shoes, he would do the same.

He stated this on Monday during the 12 Monthly Power Sector and Stakeholders’ Meeting in Ibadan hosted by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company.

Electricity generation in the country has continued to worsen, while those with prepaid meters complain of epileptic supply of power, numerous consumers without prepaid meters continue to criticise power providers for over-estimated bills even when they hardly make use of electric power supply.

But Fashola, who at the event said that sabotage of gas assets and pipelines had “decommissioned power plants and their ability to provide up to 3,000 megawatts of power” added, “The 3,500MW to 3,800MW that we have been able to keep on the grid over the last few months will be assisted greatly if we can have the gas pipelines back and add 3,000MW to it. That means we will be able to deliver well over 6,000MW if the gas pipelines are safe.”

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The minister further disclosed that sabotage in the sector has led to debt and liquidity problems, deficit in power expectation, and in revenue recovery by power distribution firms.

He said, “Consumers are more resistant to payment when they don’t have electricity, and I will be, too, and you will be too.

“We see that they (consumers) pay more when the power is more stable. Of course, there are issues also at the retail end – metering, estimated bills.”

Maintaining that all stakeholders have different roles to play in resolving electric power supply issue in the country, Fashola cited Acting President Yemi Osinbajo’s visits to Niger Delta communities as roles by government to play its part.

He said, “The idea is to bring them (Niger Delta people) to the table to stop the vandalism while the issues that agitate them can be treated and resolved. I believe that if we are successful as we expect to be, we should be able to, sometimes, this year recover all the 3,000MW that has been lost to gas pipeline outages.”

 

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