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Outrageous Bills: Kuje Amuwo Residents Take EEDC To Task

By Onyedika Agbedo
30 January 2015   |   11:00 pm
BEARING placards that read ‘Outrageous Bills Must Stop’; ‘We are not Fools, We Know our Rights’; ‘Eko Electric Keniko Read our Mertes, Don’t Assume’; ‘Eko Electric Workers Give us Light not Crazy Bill’;  ‘Take back Your Crazy Bills, We Can’t Afford to Pay’; and ‘We Need Pre-paid Metres to Avoid Outrageous Billing’, among others, the…

Protest

BEARING placards that read ‘Outrageous Bills Must Stop’; ‘We are not Fools, We Know our Rights’; ‘Eko Electric Keniko Read our Mertes, Don’t Assume’; ‘Eko Electric Workers Give us Light not Crazy Bill’;  ‘Take back Your Crazy Bills, We Can’t Afford to Pay’; and ‘We Need Pre-paid Metres to Avoid Outrageous Billing’, among others, the residents were at the office to return copies of their December bills already distributed to them by the company. They vowed that neither would they pay the bills nor allow any official of the company to disconnect any compound in the area until the issue is resolved.  

  Chairman of Amuwo Kuje Residents Association, Mr. Akin Aderigbibe, who led the peaceful protest, said the problem of outrageous bills to the people of the area had been there for over five years, noting that the time has come for the people to resist it. 

  “What is taking place today is that we have come to drop all the January 2015 bills for energy used in December 2014 which were distributed to members of the community back to EEDC simply because of the crazy bills they have been giving to us. We are giving them back the bills so that they can call us for a meeting so we can why we are being given such bills. Meanwhile, we have written them series of letters to them on this matter since December last year but we got no response from them. That is why the community decided to return all the bills they sent to us back to them. May be that will make them to address our complaints,” he noted.  

  Also speaking, Secretary of the resident association, Mr. Onwuachu C. N, said the community was only in need of electricity supply and accurate billing from EEDC and nothing else. 

  “We didn’t just wake up and embarked on this protest. We followed due process. On December 17, 2014, we wrote them a letter calling for a solution over the crazy bills being sent to us. We even demanded for a dialogue with them so that we can understand where the problem is coming from but they did not answer us. On January 14, this year, we wrote a reminder to them but instead of attending to the issues we raised, what we saw was another outrageous bill from them. 

  “We told them in that reminder that in as much as we are law abiding, nobody should take us for granted. We gave EEDC every room to address our grievances but they did not,” he said. 

  He added: “Now our position is that we are not going to pay until they reverse our bills to what we are able to pay. Secondly, they should read our metres and give us accurate bills. Thirdly, they should give us pre-paid metres. Finally, until this issue is resolved, let nobody come climbing any pole in the area with the aim of disconnecting us.” 

  EEDC Marketing Manager, Agboju area office, Mr. Onwuaju Kingsley assured the residents that the company would look into their complaints. 

  “I have taken note of your complaints. We have also received your letter. We will get in touch with your leadership. We will look at your grievances and solve the ones we can solve; the ones we cannot solve we refer them up,” he said. 

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