Electricity consumers protest against ‘crazy bills’

Youths in Festac town are threatening a showdown with the district management of the Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKDC) Plc over what they described as crazy billing from the company.

The looming crisis is centred on the disconnection of power in zones 1, 2 and 3 as the residents’ insisted on the provision of pre-paid metres or alternatively, proper billing system rather than “crazy bills” delivered to people, even without power supply.

Describing as unbearable an average monthly bill of N12,000 to over 95 per cent of the consumers for less than 20 hours of power supply in a month, the residents had returned their April and May 2016 bills to the business/distribution manager.

Their demands included the installation of pre-paid metres or reading of their analogue metres, which they said were still functional, pending the switchover, insisting that they would not honour any further outrageous bill.

Buttressing their claim of abysmal outage and “criminal billing,” they disclosed that none of the prepaid metres installed in the area since late February 2016 has yet spent 150 out of the installed 300 units capacity (less than N3,000) in a month.

Against the directive of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on disagreements over outrageous bills, however, the community said that EKDC disconnected the entire area on July 5, 2016 from the overload “without notification.”

Irked by this, in their July 11, 2016 petition to the EKDC Managing Director, titled, “Illegal Mass Disconnection of Electricity Supply and Demand for Prepaid Metres,” the community described as illegal and condemnable “the disconnection of over 5,000 customers from the overhead line at 202 Road Sub-station.”

The petition, signed by the Secretary of Zone 1, Collins Nwanya, Chairman of Zone 2, Mr. Emma Nwokeoma, and Chairman of Zone 3 Electricity Taskforce, Mr. Nobis Ogueri, it was “an action we believed was a punishment for agitating for prepaid metres and outrageous billings.

“The community has been experiencing epileptic and irregular power supply for over one year (often, as low as 10 hours in a month). The coded billing system we have been subjected to is outrageous and tantamount to obtaining money from the community members by false pretense.”

They therefore, demanded the restoration of their electricity line within 48 hours or they would pursue “all necessary civil action” to defend their legitimate rights, while insisting on the immediate installation of prepaid metres for accurate billing.

The district manager was said to have invited them to a meeting after they returned the April bills, where EKDC disclosed that the bills were being calculated from the feeder poles and included the consumption by welders and other unmetered consumers in the area.

It further undertook to take inventory of the electrical appliances in their residences but only did so in A Close, 111Road. For May, however, the community said the company billed over 97 per cent of the consumers a uniform N8,265 irrespective of individual usage, even for the worst power supply level.

One of the workers of the power company confided in The Guardian that the company takes advantage of the estimated billing system to make money for itself, since the regulatory environment is weak.

“It is not as if we workers like it. Our parents and other relations are still facing the challenge, but since the government cannot make everything to work well, not even enforce their own laws, then investors will take advantage of it,” the worker said.

Efforts by The Guardian to speak with the business manager were not successful, as his identity was not disclosed and neither was he available in the office he occupies.