Residents of Alimosho area of Lagos State on Monday expressed worry over “crazy bills” given to them by Ikeja Electric (IE), with many of them seeking explanations at the Egbeda Undertaking Office of the company on Alimosho Road, in the locality.
TBI Africa correspondent who was at the office reports that many of the residents came forward with complaints of “crazy bills“, alleging that it was getting worse with some reflecting as much as 300 per cent increase in March.
Mr Dayo Ali, one of the aggrieved customers, said that the crazy bills given to many residents on Araromi Street in Iyana-Ipaja, where he resides, had no justification. “The bills have increased beyond imagination. We don’t expect what IE is giving to us. It is so high that a single shop was given N18,000.
“Some houses got up to N30,000 and above, this is too much. We want reduction or else we will march to the headquarters in Alausa to protest this,” he said.
Mr Ifeanyi Ugor, another resident of Alimosho, said that the increase in the bills of customers in the area was up to 300 per cent. According to him, he was in the office to seek explanation as to why his apartment, for which he had been paying N6000 for a month, was billed over N20,000.
“This is unacceptable; it should be taken back to what it was before. We are even complaining that what they give us monthly is out of the reality of our consumption. “The power supply is terribly bad and now they are increasing our bill, we won’t take it from the IE.
Mr. Sunday Adigun, who said he resides at No, 14, Ige Str. Iyana-Ipaja, said: “It is sad that the masses are still being exploited by the power distributors in this nation without check.
“Our bill jumped from N6,000 to about N20,000 while some on our street got up to 28,000.This is saddening when people are finding it difficult to feed themselves,” he said.
Mrs Funmilayo Asaolu, who said her residence is on Omopelumi Street in Iyana-Ipaja, said fear gripped her when she received the bill for the month of March. According to her, the bill given her moved from 4,000 to N13,000. This Ikeja Electric wants us to use our entire salary to pay bills,” she lamented.
Mrs Odunayo Adeleye, also of Omopelumi Street, said her bill jumped from N2,800 to almost N10,000 for the same month. I would know why this crazy billing. I think the Minister of Power, Mr Babatunde Fashola, needs to defend the masses. We are already paying more than our consumption every month, the government must rescue us from such exploitation,” she said.
Several other residents, who also frowned at the development, threatened to stage a protest if the crazy bills were not reversed.
The Marketing Manager of the IE unit, who simply identified himself as Mr Akinwale, however, told the aggrieved residents that the company billed them based on their power consumption. The manager said each transformer had meter from which the company read the power consumption in each area.
