Appeal to NERC chairman

SIR: The good citizens of this country will not accept any tariff increase whether domestic, commercial or industrial at this time of economic downturn and very poor power supply by the power distributors. One wonders the basis of this request when consumers are grossly dissatisfied for arbitrary billings, irregular power supply and the deliberate refusal to provide pre-paid meters.

The situation is worse in the areas under Eko Electricity Distribution. In areas like Yaba, Ebute Metta, Apapa Road etc., it is usually one hour in a week and sometimes none at all for a whole month and at the end of the month, an arbitrary bill is sent to the consumers.

In fact, this callous dis-service and ceaseless outages have ruined a number of small and medium scale organisations/industries. Mr. Chairman Sir, the reason for this open letter is to appeal to you not to give the approval requested by any of the distribution companies, but to order them to put their houses in order.

There should be no increase in tariff until they are able to ensure stable power, and the provision of pre-paid meters to every household, offices and industries.

Your directive which was that all AEDC shall within one month of your order publish in a newspaper with wider circulation within its distribution area, an apology to all affected customers stating their business units for the excess charges billed, has not even been complied with. The ordinary people of this country have been taken for granted for too long and it is about time to put an end to payment without service.