By KUNLE KALEJAYE
Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, has been given a 21 day ultimatum to refund the sum of N378billion allegedly collected from electricity consumers in the country for the purpose of meter maintenance.

In a three page petition to the PHCN dated 24th April, 2012 made available to Vanguard, Solicitor to the Coalition for Social Equity, CSE, Ossai & Co Legal Practitioners, said its client and Nigerians at large, paid the illegal fee of N378billion for meter maintenance to PHCN over a period of 12 years.

According to the petition signed by Judith Somuyiwa, “If we do not receive in our offices your detailed proposal on how to meet our clients demand within 21 day of your receipt of this letter, we shall put all necessary requirements and conditionalities in motion, to enforce the rights our clients and that of other Nigerians in the appropriate court of Law.”

The meter maintenance charge was introduced in the late 1990s by the PHCN but was abolished in December 2011 by the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, who referred to such charges as illegal.

The head of the Coalition, Mr. Frank Oluku, confirmed to Vanguard that the letter had since been dispatched to PHCN, which acknowledged the receipt on the 30th of April 2012.

Vanguard gathered that the group had earlier sent a petition to the Senate President and the Minister of Power on this issue.

The solicitor further noted in the petition that the Chairman of the Nigeria Electric Regulatory Commission, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, in a communiqué issued at the end of a two day workshop with distribution companies admitted that maintenance charge was illegal.

The solicitor said, “The height of the illegality perpetrated on consumers and our client in particular, is the fact that consumers with no meter at all i.e. (earmarked for meter installation but yet to be installed) were made to pay a maintenance charge for a non-existent meter.

“Worse still, in our personal experiences and we believe, including that of all electricity consuming customers of PHCN, you have never maintained meters.”