The
hope of the residents of Abule Egba and it's environs to be enjoying
fairly stable electricity supply at moderate tariffs is constantly
dashed by the fraudulent and unlawful activities of workers of the power
distribution company, Ikeja Electric, located on Olayiwola street,
Abule Egba business unit, Lagos.
The
Message International's findings revealed that most consumers of the
utility are constantly denied its regular su pply by the unit, headed by
one Mr Victor, and all the complaints by the people of the vicinity
have always fallen on the manager's deaf ears. Instead, he's said to be
behind the regular disconnection of electricity in the area, especially
when his men are not tipped.
We
further found out that most residential houses are being served with
commercial bills therefore attracting heavy tariffs, making it difficult
for the users to pay in time.
And
as a result of the unavoidable delay in settling the bills by most of
the residents, their supply of electricity stands being disconnected by
the marketing officers on duty, one of them simply identified as Ope is
allegedly the mastermind of the so called crazy bills being distributed
in the area. Even, it's gathered that most houses using one metre reader
are being served with two bills without any justification.
And many
residents who will not want their electricity disconnected and their
electric wires forcefully taken away were said to be those being
extorted by the said marketing officer.
Among
the residents of the area The Message International spoke to confirmed
the illegal operation by men of the Ikeja Electric in the area. They
therefore called on the government to call the staffers of this unit to
order before the situation gets out of control as most people in the
area no longer find it easy to bear the ugly situation as a house at
times is billed as high as N30,000 monthly even at none regular supply.
According
to one Mr Gabriel Martins, "We're tired of the activities of the
workers of Ikeja Electric. They're fraudsters and extortionists. They
deliberately issue out high bills, popularly known as crazy bills, so
that they can be extorting us because they know we won't be able to pay
in time. They at times threaten us with disconnection. In my area at
Sanni Balogun, Jimi Adeosun, Agbe road, Jibowu road, Olaniyi and other
areas, they always come with double bills on just a meter and they're
usually commercial ones.
"When
I moved into my new place in February 2018, our bill then was just
N4,800 and later it suddenly jumped to as high as N14,000 and now we're
paying about N22,000 same house same occupants, and nothing new in the
electrical appliances we are using. So, I wonder where they get their
bills. Even, a lot of houses, churches and shops have permanently
disconnected their electricity, and they have resulted in using
generators as alternative means of power generation to go about their
daily activities.
"We
have been tabling our discomfort before their manager, Mr Victor, he's
constantly defiant to our calls. There's a guy called Ope, he's very
wicked. He takes delight in getting your electricity disconnected each
time he's on routine checks unless he's bribed. How can they be billing
churches as high as N40,000 monthly? Are they factories? Even, recently,
a residential building was served two conflicting bills of about N24,
000 each. How do they expect just five occupants of the building to
offset that just in one week? Even, when they don't give us the light,
it doesn't stop them from billing us outrageously.
So, we're tired.
We're using this medium to appeal to the government to come to our aid
and call IKEJA Electric officials to order before we're drawn to the
wall because we can't continue to be suffering in silence.
Another
resident, Mrs Olatanwa also corroborated the earlier speaker, adding
that failure to checkmate the dastardly act of the electricity
distribution company soon as possible may degenerate into serious crisis
in the area and beyond.
"I
am sure no one is comfortable with what the officials of IKEJA Electric
are doing to us in this area. And we keep complain. We later
discovered that the more we do that, the higher our bills. How can
they expect a house to be paying on two bills when there's only one
meter in that house? There's is no justification in that at all. That's
why we should fight for the installation of prepaid meters in this area.
We're tired of extortion and crazy bills by these evil men. It's high
time the state and the Federal Governments waded into the issue to avoid
serious break down of law and order in the area and beyond."
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