Jigawa electricity consumers protest estimated billing
[FILES] Electricity poles
Residents of Dutse, the capital of Jigawa State, yesterday, protested against what they described as an arbitrary increase in estimated billing by officials of Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
The residents in their numbers besieged KEDCO District Office in Dutse, to demonstrate against estimated billing at a time when many are struggling for survival.
The demonstration was the second time, they are asking the authority to supply them with prepaid meters.
According to residents, they began to experience severe power shortages from the beginning of 2022, which caused them to live in darkness for a couple of months.
The protesters accused officials of KEDCO of being inhumane in charging customers outrageously without justification, even when there was a nationwide power interruption.
Chairman of the joint communities, Alhaji Abdullahi Hamza Usman, who spoke to newsmen after meeting with KEDCO’s Regional manager in his office, rejected the outrageous charges in Dutse.
He said: “We are tired of injustice and ruthless implementation of the arbitrary increase in electricity tariffs by officials of KEDCO without supply. How can one pay for services that he didn’t consume?
“Serving us such outrageous bills is unfair in the midst of present hardship, whereas most of the bills are handwritten.
“We won’t accept off-hand billing since such is fraudulent.”
Usman stated that the Secretary of the NERC Jigawa office and the regional manager of KEDCO, Dutse, have promised to intervene in the matter.
According to him, it has been decided that the affected customers will continue to pay the old electricity bills from now till the next six months before the dispute is resolved.
Meanwhile, at the time of the report, KEDCO’s Head of Corporate Communication, Mrs. Ibrahim Sani Shawai, is yet to respond to inquiries sent to her telephone number.
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