Featured Politics News

Ikorodu community kicks against estimated billing, threatens court action

By Thompson ABISOLA

Residents of Ojokoro Estate, Ikorodu in Lagos State, have threatened court action over high estimated billings by the Ikeja Electricity Company.

Chairman, Ojokoro Community Development Association, Mr Amos Ifedayo, said that the residents were determined to resist rising electricity tariff in the area.

Ifedayo said that the residents would no longer pay the high estimated bills being issued, noting that the community had adopted a position of “no prepaid meter, no more payment of estimated bills”.

He said that the issue of non-supply of meters had been reoccurring before and after the privatisation of the power sector.

He alleged that post-privatisation estimated bills were four times higher than the figures paid by consumers before the privatisation exercise.

He accused the disco of sabotaging efforts to supply meters to consumers.

He said: “It must be noted that before privatisation, crazy and high estimated bills have not been as bogus as after the privatisation of the discos, where crazy and estimated billings are currently four times higher.

“This has encouraged the discos to deliberately continue to stall the supply of meters to electricity consumers.

“We make bold to state that meter manufacturers in Nigeria currently have over two million meters that meet local and international standards, waiting in their warehouses for interested electricity distributor.

The  Minister of Power Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had on July 10, directed the Nigerian Electricity Regularly Commission (NERC) to ensure that power distribution companies (DisCos) provide meters to customers and eliminate estimated electricity bills.

He told NERC to step in to ensure that the Discos improve on their distribution equipment and capacity to take up the available 2,000 megawatts in order to optimise the use of the electrical resource produced by the Gencos.

“NERC should enforce the contract of the Discos to supply meters and act to ensure the urgent and speedy supply and installation of meters with a view to eliminating estimated billing and promote efficient industry and market structures.

“NERC should stop the Discos from threatening private entrepreneurs from entering the market to supply consumers, whom the Discos cannot supply.

“If we take into consideration that after five years of privatisation, there are still people and businesses that do not have power or enough power, common sense and public interest demand that we must not resist ordinary people, small businesses like shops and markets from seeking alternative sources of energy.

“If the Discos are not resisting the generator sellers, who are contributing to pollution, what is the logic of resisting small entrepreneurs bringing mini-gas plants to supply a market need”.

 

Related posts

COVID-19: Another 13 Nigerian returnees from Togo arrive Seme border

Meletus EZE 

Nigeria’s economy may slip back into recession – CBN warns

Editor

SEC harps on professionalism in the capital market

Tonia Osundolire

Certificate forgery: Atiku, Obi protest as BBC fact-checkers clear Tinubu

Editor

4,000 trucks to visit Lekki port daily – TTP

Editor

NESG: Dangote Refinery will create $21bn market for Nigerian crude oil  

Editor