IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN METER BYPASS AND ESTIMATED BILLING? – SEE RESPONSES FROM CONSUMERS

Question:

What is the difference between meter bypass and estimated billing as practised in Nigeria?

Opinions of consumers were sought earlier in the week.

Please see responses below:

1. One is fraud by customer, the other is fraud by DisCos.
2. The first is against the law. The second is legal fraud allowed by today’s government.
3. Meter bypass = Energy theft

Estimated Billing = Approximated Charges (invoice)

My understanding though

4. One is backed by industry regulations. The other is outright theft. I believe you are intelligent enough to differentiate for yourself.
5. Balanced Equation
6. I think estimated billing is actually pure fraud. Meter bypass is energy theft.
7. In meter bypass, the customer initiates the bypass. In estimated billing, the DisCos initiate the bypass.
8. Meter bypass is cheating while estimated billing is outright fraud.
9. I don’t even see a difference between these two.
10. The only difference between the two is the methodology.
11. They are one and the same.
12. Meter bypass is outright fraud but estimated billing can lead to profiteering.
13. One is fraud by customers. The other is fraud by DisCos
14. Estimated billing is unethical.
15. Do me, I do you.
16. Like day and night.
17. Simply put- theft by both parties. Electricity theft by the consumer. Revenue theft by the DisCos.
18. Estimated Bill is an assumption Bill.
19. Meter bypass is fraud committed by the consumers against the Discos and others in the power value chain while estimated billing is the fraud committed by Discos & others in the power value chain against the consumers
20. Estimated billing is when the NEPA officers feel because you are in a flat, then you should pay a particular amount without considering your meter reading for that particular month. Leave meter bypass for now I beg!
21. Meter bypass is outright theft on the part of the consumer. Any energy that passes through the bypass is unaccounted for.
    While in estimated billing, the consumer is forced by the DISCO to pay for what he or she Never consumed.
    Both cases are clear examples of stealing.
22. Both are frauds committed as a result of lack of transparency, fairness and adherence to best practices in business in Nigeria.
23. Meter Bypass is energy loss to the provider due to the consumer performing acts of energy loss to the provider intentionally by stealing energy.
24. Estimated Billing is the act of inappropriate energy consumption measurements by the provider of the consumer’s actual consumption.
25. Meter bypass is when you use power and your meter is not reading it. While estimated billing is when NEPA bills u on assumption readings
26. Meter bypass is customer energy theft from the utility while estimated billing is utility monetary theft from the customers.
27. Sometimes, meter bypass is illegal, other times it involves using estimated billing instead. Whereas, estimated billing is what it is – the inefficient way of paying for electricity using guesstimates, rather than the actual amount of electricity consumed.

28.Meter bypass is the activities of the customers too to steal from PHCN after collecting meter. Na do me i do u.

29. Estimated billing is day light robbery commited by the power distributions companies on their helpless customers. Meter bypass on the other hand is a counter measure by the robbed customers in order for them to get justice for the robbery committed on them by the distribution companies, since they have waited endlessly for govt to save them from the robbers without getting any result.

30. Some pple are still suffering this estimated robbery billing used in Nigeria. I’ve suffered it in the past when i was given 15k monthly for several years before i got prepaid meter. Kilode now, without having factory in my house.

31. The difference is that there won’t be crazy bill on meter bypass just like estimated bill.
32. In meter bypass the customer robs the disco. In estimated billing the DisCo robs the customer.
33. Ole gbe. Ole gba. (One is a pilferer (meter bypass). The other is a rogue (estimated billing).

34. Truthfully and seriously both are wrong . The law is likely to support estimated billing because at the end of the day, it is deemed to be payment for service rendered, (whether the service is rendered or not is another matter) . The bypass on the other hand, is a deliberate act of sabotage to avoid payment for services rendered . Furthermore, tampering with government equipment , is regarded as a criminal offense. It also poses a danger to those around.

35. Meter by pass is an act of removing part of the load meant to be calculated by the meter, thereby making the consumer pay for the calculated energy used and the uncalculated consumption falls to the grid and shared among the unmetered customers.
36. Estimated billing is a process of giving an arbitrary monetary value to energy consumed by a consumer due to inability to access their analog meter, faulty meter or no meter to calculate the accurate energy consumed, thereby they are billed according to the remaining undistributed and unaccountable energy allocated to the specific area, after the consumption of the working meters are deducted, the balance off is divided equally among those whose reading are not readily available.
37. Cunning man die. Cunning man bury am.
38. Meter bypass is a technical term used when an energy meter is shunted and compromised in a deliberate act by the customer while estimated billing is a commercial term used to bill customers without a meter or functioning one.
39. Meter bypass is illegal means by customers to use electricity to avoid paying bills
    Estimated billing is the unfair inflated billing by service providers which does not commensurate with the energy consume by customers
40. NO DIFFERENCE TO BE HONEST. Consumers fraudulent way of billing and
    Providers fraudulent way of billing.
41. In my opinion estimated bill comes into play, when I apply to the Authority for meter but due to some reasons, they were unable to deploy and as such for main time adopt bill estimation to bill me while working on my meter. It is based on legal understanding between the parties.
42. Meter bypass is when, I tapped electricity from a nearby neighbour without the knowledge of the Authority. Or in some cases, connect some of my appliances directly to the Power line thereby bypassing the meter such that the energy consumed does not form part of the bill I am meant to pay at the end of the month.
43. Meter by pass…occurs when you have a prepaid meter but you decide on your own to put all your load off the meter – Ac,
    Pumping water machine, etc. Estimated bill is that every month, the customer is billed whether they consume electricity or not. At times, there are major problems with transformer , (lockdown time), the customer will still pay when the service was not received.
44. Both Practices naaa Baraawoooo
45. Meter bypass is an arrangement between electricity workers and consumers to tactfully place heavy loads of a house like AC, cooker and heaters on a particular electricity phase that does not pass through meter, or consumers connect directly from source bypassing meter at night and disconnect in the morning. Estimated billing is a practice where billings are made based on location and structures irrespective of whether or not there are corresponding electrical appliances. For example, number of bedrooms, type of flat etc. In most cases, the total consumption of the area for a month is shared among consumers on ratio basis. For example, if 10MW is consumed in a feeder, every customer will be billed based on the ratio he paid the last month.
46. Lol… meter bypass is the consumer’s own way of getting back at the power providers for the estimated (over)billing practiced on consumers without a prepaid meter.
47. Meter bypass is a form of electricity theft
48. The difference between the two is when you bypassed you are cheating the company but when you’re estimated,the company is cheating you.
49. They are one and the same.

50. If you do me I do you, God no go vex. That’s what is at play here.

51. Meter bypass occur when customer make connection to the load without going through the meter (i. e. to avoid such load been captured by the meter). This obviously is associated with a functional meter. Estimated billing is a case where the customer does not have meter or the meter is not working but billed based on assumed load consumption.
52. Estimated billing is not the best cos you don’t pay for what u consume, it is like scam and not a good practice. And there are lots of people who don’t even pay atall and there is also sentiment between electricity distribution company and the consumer Unlike meter reading when you pay what is been used and is less expensive. In this case one has no business with NEPA since what you recharge is what you consume.
53. The estimated billing system is one of the main factor that has affected infrastructural development in Nigeria and because what Disco gain from this, they don’t want to find lasting solution to power supply in Nigeria
54. My beloved engineer is there any better definition than “What is the difference between meter bypass and estimated billing?”
55. The difference aside their definition is that the electricity company used the formal to shortchange the customer (consumer) while the later is used by the consumer to shortchange the electricity company
56. Both na bypass
57. Meter bypass is illegal and estimated billing is legal. Meter bypass is criminal, estimated billing is not. Estimated billing is accounted for meter bypass is not accounted for.
58. Both are energy theft, one done by the poor, the other done by the rich.
59. Some unscrupulous customers bypass the meter but the estimated billing captures every un-metered consumption. So at the end of the day, the estimated bill customers pay for the power that was stolen by the metered population.
60. Meter bypass occurs when a prepaid meter owner makes all the load or some of the load utilised not to have impact on the meter so such usage is not paid for. Estimated billing occurs when customers without prepaid meters are just given assumed bills without the provider actually checking what they consumed in a particular period.
61. Estimated billing is a practical approach to billing when metering data is unavailable or unreliable. It is a practice that can, and has been, abused. Meter bypass is criminal activity. It has no excuse.
62. Both methods are fraudulent acts the difference there is that estimated billing is the methodology by the DisCos whereby they fail to provide meters to read the unit of electric consumption while meter bypass is the fraudulent act by the consumers whereby consumers tap electricity directly without passing through the meter to read the units consumed.

63. Meter bypass is you re-route some of your heavy load not to pass through the meter.i.e you form another wiring loop apart from the main to reduce the load that the meter will capture for billing.whereas estimated billing is just assume a particular load for a premises based on assumption of what gadget is in the house.this may be beneficial to whom is underestimated and non beneficial to those overestimated when the supply is available. But another twist to it is you pay for the estimate if there is no supply or there is in an area with constant supply people like it because they believe they are cheating the system because you can never get a perfect estimate but the majority feels they do not use up to the estimate or they did not use at all.

64. Estimated billing is the most fraudulent act ever perpetrated in the history of Nigeria

65. Estimated Billing is cheating on customers whole meter bypass is cheating on DisCos.
66. Meter bypass is when consumers of electricity cheats on electricity provider. Estimated billing is when electricity provider cheats on the customer or consumer. The difference in the two is that the consumers can be jailed in the first instance while the provider are legally protected.
67. One is theft by the customer while the other is theft by the operator or service provider. One is illegal (customer) the other is supported by law at least until appropriate metering is enforced.
68. So many PHCN staff have used estimated billing system to build mansions that will collapse on them at old age. Money some pple suffered to pay with their hard labour.

Estimated Billing is killing.

Me that was paying 15k estimated billing is now using average of 3k with prepaid meter…… kilode now!

69. A meter bypass is a direct connection
    Estimated billing is when a user is charged without reading the meter; more than the user consumed at a specified time.
70. Meter bypass is practiced by users while estimated billing is an act for power distribution company.
71. Meter bypass is when Consumer of electricity decided to use energy off the Meter & pay what he likes or what he wanted d meter to capture to the Supplier.

While Estimated bill is calculated by the supplier base on the parameters known to supplier only.

Therefore, d former pays the consumer while d latter is of Supplier’s advantage.

72. Simply described as follows;
    Meter bypass is sin committed by people against the government.
    Estimated billing is sin committed by government against the people.
73. Meter bypass is an illegal act by electricity consumers, who are metered, that connect part or all their electricity consumption wires to channels outside their meters with the intention to evade paying their due bill from usage.
    While estimated billing is an extortion practice by electricity providers by forcing innocent electricity consumers who are not metered to pay for bills which most times are far higher that what ought to av been paid on electricity used and at times demanding payments for services not provided.
74. Meter bypass is associated with customers who are using the prepaid Meter. Some customers decide to bypass their prepaid Meter but of course there is a grave penalty for it when customers are caught during routine inspection by distribution companies so as to deter those who may want to indulge in it. Sometimes, these categories of bypass customer are assisted by the distribution companies staff for some gratification. The estimated billing customer are those who either don’t have Meters or their Meters are faulty or distribution companies staff don’t read their post-paid Meters. In my area in Benin City, the analogue Meters are not been read, customers usually receive estimated bills that are ridiculous. Most estimated billing customers receive bills with the same amount every month as much as ₦20,000 on the average, when they complain, they are asked to pay some amount of money to enable disconnection.
75. Meter bypass is outright energy theft and Estimated billing is the distributor trying to get even.
76. The two are similar but one is unofficial the other is officially done.
77. Estimated billing is done from an office whereas bypass is done individually.
78. Meter bypass is a situation where a customer deliberately make or rendered the installed meter in his premises not to record appropriately for his on gain, while estimated bill is usually a deliberate act by the utility not to install appropriate meter in customer premises and resulted into given the customer arbitrary figure or bill that does not correspond to his actual consumption.
79. I think it is a rhetorical question that does not require any answers. Meter bypass is a criminal offense and is not less than armed robbery. Estimated billings is lack of database due to laziness and inefficiency.
80. All about Power Theft. While one is stealing by the consumer, the other is stealing by the service providers.
81. DIFFERENCES
    Meter bypass is when the consumer frauds the electricity company; using free electricity. Usually happens in areas where electricity officials can visit eg where area boys are, or where they have big dogs or in high officials and army houses. while estimated bill is when the electricity company defrauds the consumer. Mostly happen where the consumers are illiterates, or over suppressed or when they are not privy to get a meter which is their right.
    SIMILARITY
    Both act are stealing oppression and fraud. The perpetrators believe they can’t or won’t be caught. They use their position as an advantage.
82. The biggest issue about estimated billing is customers are billed when Transformer is faulty and no supply of electricity for some periods of time. Sometimes a month, six months, a year or even two years.
83. No difference bro. Do they even check readings on your meter to determine what your bill is? Estimated billing is fraud. No power, then your estimation is based on what? The perfect solution is installation of prepaid meter in every home, which to them, will end their business.
84. Both are robbery in opposite direction!
85. They are both 419 players.

What do you think?

Please add your opinions in the comment section.

Engineer Idowu Oyebanjo is a UK trained chartered power system engineer.