Aleyita, Pyakasa in blackout over AEDC exploitation protest

Residents of Aleyita and Pyakasa on Airport road, Abuja, have been thrown into darkness following their protests over arbitrary, high electricity tariff and poor power supply by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC). Our reporters who visited the two communities, yesterday, found that many households and business places were using generators as a result of the […]

Residents of Aleyita and Pyakasa on Airport road, Abuja, have been thrown into darkness following their protests over arbitrary, high electricity tariff and poor power supply by Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC).

Our reporters who visited the two communities, yesterday, found that many households and business places were using generators as a result of the blackout.

Some of the residents who spoke to our reporters said they have been living in darkness for over two weeks.

They accused AEDC of vandalising the transformers in their communities, while calling on the distribution company to supply them with prepaid metres instead of using the estimated billing system to exploit them.

A business man in Pyakasa, Olatunji Olabayo, said they gave him a bill of N4,000 monthly in his shop but one day, they brought a bill of N40,000.

He said he had no outstanding bill so he protested the N40,000 bill and they asked him to  channel his complaint to their office which he did but the bill kept increasing.

“It is frustrating doing business here. The light is not regular but the bill is regular and they keep bringing high bills for us very month. I am into shoe making and we need light to work but we have to rely on generator to do business here,” he said. 

“They brought the form for us to fill for prepaid metre last year and I did but up till now nothing has been heard about it,” he added.

When our reporters visited the chief of Pyakasa, Sarki Pada Shedrack’s palace, he was not available but his son, Miracle Shedrack, said the protest was as a result of over billing and power outages in the community. 

He said their house has an accumulated bill of N50,000 for the two months that there was poor power supply.  

Shedrack said, “Even before the protest, we were in darkness but we faithfully paid our bills. Light or no light, they would always bring bill. The resolution is for them to bring the prepaid metres for us so that we can monitor our consumption. The power officials give more attention to the estimated billing than the prepaid meter.”

Mrs. Rashidat Agoye, a resident of Aleyita also said that estimated billing was meant to defraud customers hence AEDC’s reluctance to give customers prepaid metres.

She added that her husband has resolved to stop using electricity until the distribution company was ready to do the right thing.

“They normally bring a bill of N3,500 or N4,000 for us in a one room apartment. We only have one fan in the room and a television. I had to beg my husband to help us pay so that the children will not go to people’s houses to peep through the windows when they want to watch programmes on television. 

“If we leave the house in the morning, we return in the night so who is using the power in our absence,” she queried.

In a response to Daily Trust enquiries yesterday, AEDC Head of Media and Public Relations, Ahmed Shekarau, said in an email: “These communities were disconnected based on a letter they wrote to our Lugbe Area Office requesting that we should disconnect them. Prior to that communication with our area office, majority of the residents refused to settle bills delivered to them. 

 “Equally, they refused to allow our staff to collect revenues from customers who were willing to settle their bills. So, for us, we are ready to reconnect them once they write another letter requesting for same, but with an assurance that they won’t molest our staff as they had done very viciously.”