Umuahia – Electricity consumers in Umuahia and environs have charged the Enugu Electricty Distribution Company (EEDC) to discontinue with the estimated billing system in the area forthwith.
The people gave the charge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and described estimated billing as “questionable and exploitative.”
They said that the company was exploiting the residents through “crazy bills” but could not provide light to the area.
They alleged that the company was generating bills for consumers by estimation “without reading people’s meters” and demanded the installation of pre-paid meters in the area.
A resident, Mr Emeka Dede, who owns a business centre on School Road, Umuahia, expressed deep concern over the practice, saying that the company was ripping Abia residents off.
“EEDC is exploiting the Umuahia consumers, it is questionable and exploitative for EEDC to generate bills without giving us light.
“I took the matter up with the Umuahia office. I will contiinue to challenge the crazy bills they are sending to me,” he said.
Dede also said that the least of his monthly bill was N6,000, wondering how he could consume upto the amount when he hardly had light at the centre.
“Every day, EEDC brings light in the morning in School Road area and take it around 9 a.m when I come to work.
“Around 5 p.m, when I will be closing for the day, they will bring back light, after I had spent so much money on fuel to power my generator.
“It is very painful that at the end of the month they would send me a bill of over N6,000.
“This means that I will spend my money on fuel to run my business and use money generated to pay EEDC for service not provided,” Dede said.
He said that when he took the matter to the EEDC office in Umuahia, he was told that the bill for the area was generated through the transformer and shared pro-rata to all the tenants in the area.
Another resident, Mr Steve Agwu, who lives in Uwalaka Road, Umuahia, said that the area had not had light since 2015 due to an unserviceable transformer.
Agwu said that although the state government and Sen. Theodore Orji recently donated two transformers to the area, EEDC had refused to connect the facilities.
He said that the company issued a bill of over N15 million to the people, which it claimed was owed before the transformer packed up.
He wondered how they could have generated that amount, considering the epileptic state of power in the area before the transformer became faulty and unserviceable.
Also narrating his experience, Chief Boniface Okoro, a resident of Amuzukwu Layout, Umuahia, said that he had formally applied to EEDC to disconnect him “beause if I remain connected, I will be paying for darkness.”
Mr Iyke Ogbonna said that he had refused to pay to be reconnected after his apartment was disconnected in February “because my neighbours, who paid and we’re reconnected have not had light.”
“So, I do not see the propriety of going to dash my hard earned money this period of recession to an organisation that does not provide me any service,” Ogbonna said.
The residents requested the EEDC to, as a matter of urgency, commence the installation of pre-paid meters in order to put an end to estimated crazy bill in the area.
Reacting to the complaints in a telephone interview with NAN, the Head, Corporate Affairs Department of EEDC, Mr Emeka Eze, said that the company had started the “metering of electricity consumers in the five South eastern states.”
Eze, who claimed to be in a meeting, said that further enquiries on pre-paid meters should be referred to the company’s Network Mananger in Umuahia, Mr Livinus Mmaram.