Lagos residents cry out over ‘punitive’ disconnection, exorbitant electricity bill

Some Lagos residents at the weekend protested against what they called exorbitant electricity bill by the electricity distribution company, calling for the intervention of the Federal Government to stop what they called the “fleecing of consumers.” Most of the consumers on the estimated billing who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos at the weekend also […]

Some Lagos residents at the weekend protested against what they called exorbitant electricity bill by the electricity distribution company, calling for the intervention of the Federal Government to stop what they called the “fleecing of consumers.”

Most of the consumers on the estimated billing who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos at the weekend also accused the disco of massive disconnection of electricity amidst short notice.

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Daily Trust reports that some residents of Ikeja, Agege, Iyana Ipaja, Ogba who are not on the prepaid metering system insisted the bill has continued to rise without commensurate supply.

However, the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) which serves Ikeja and its environs denied the claim by the residents.

In parts of Ojodu, Landlords’ Association met at the weekend over the persistent increase in electricity bills resolving to make official complaints to the headquarters of the Disco at Alausa.

They said the charges in recent times for those on estimated billing system ran contrary to the directive by the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to cap estimated bill for consumers who are not metered.

Many of the residents who spoke with our correspondent said there has been over 100 per cent increase in Bill in the last four months.

“They said the government suspended increase in tariffs but we have been paying exorbitant Bills for the past three months now. Since February till date, we have had over 100 per cent increase in our estimated bills,” one resident, Mr. Sunday David who lives at Aina street Ojodu said.

The resident who also showed the previous Bills to this Reporter expressed shock that the Ikeja disco officials disconnected them barely a week after sending them the June’s Bill.

“We paid the last bill which was for May less than three weeks ago and you sent us the Bill for June last Sunday and on Friday they came to disconnect the light. This last Bill they gave us 48,000 and the last Bill we paid was 36,000. It has been increasing since April when they brought 32,000 and now it is 48,000 yet they expected us to pay immediately,” he said.

Another resident who lives at Akiode-Grammar School area, said his bill for June rose from N11,000 to N25,000.

A Landlord at Ojodu Abiodun, Mr. Ahmed Sulaiman told our correspondent that residents have concluded to storm the Alausa headquarters of the Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company to complain about the persistent crazy bill.

“We were told the IKEDC is owing some people and they need money to pay their debt. But we are saying this is getting too much, we can’t continue to pay for what we don’t consume,” he said.

It is a different ball game for some consumers who despite owing accumulated Bill escape disconnection by giving kickbacks to some officials of the company, findings by our correspondent show.

“Here we don’t pay Bill but we sort ourselves out with the officials,” another resident said.

But the spokesman of Ikeja Electric, Felix Ofulue explained that there was no deliberate move to fleece any customer.

He said those who were disconnected were consumers with accumulated debts from previous bills.

“Some people dont complete their payments so it keeps piling. Every customer who has complaints about their bills have a right to contest it. But there are laid down processes to go about it. So they should contact their respective Undertaking offices to reconcile the issues.

“The increase in power supply since the lockdown also comes with increased costs and that has inadvertently reflected in the bill. Energy theft also contributes to increase in bills because those stealing in the energy are not captured in the billing system. That is why we have set up a whistleblowing platform where customers can report such illegal acts. The email for the platform is [email protected].”