We’ll persuade consumers in Bayelsa to pay tariff —PHCN

By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa— Against the backdrop of fears that residents of Bayelsa State who are used to free electricity might resist the proposed billing system for electricity consumption in the state, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) yesterday said it would use persuasion to collect tariff from consumers.

The era of arbitrary billing, according to the company, is over, saying it had enough digital and analogue metres in its stores to take care of customers who were expected to start paying for their power consumption as from November 1.

The Business Manager in charge of the Yenagoa District of PHCN, Mr. Godwin Orovwiroro, said in an interview that, unlike in the past where customers failed to exercise their right, they could now have the right to write petitions against any form of perceived extortion or arbitrariness in the services of the company to the National Electricity Commission.

According to him, Bayelsa is a new market for the company and will have no problem of estimation over bills or the usual controversy over non-supply of metres after payment.