Residents of Naze town, in Owerri North council area of Imo, have decried what they described as the overestimated billing system of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC).
Some residents of the area who spoke with C-Advocate correspondent said the estimated bills were either wrongly calculated or deliberately inflated and misleading.
Recall that the EEDC, one of Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies, uses, among other things, an estimated billing system, to calculate bills of electricity consumers in southeast Nigeria, where they operate.
Mr Yul Okenyi, a civil servant who lives in the area said that while the bills increase on a monthly basis, “ I have neither acquired any new electrical appliance nor have the hours of power supply increased “.
He added that most evenings when consumers return from their daily activities and need to use electric light, the voltage falls too low to power common household gadgets, yet the bills keep increasing.
Another resident, Mrs Amarachi Mbachu , a teacher, lamented that the estimated bills “keep growing in value each month even when there are several days without power supply “.
Miss Nelly Chidi, a student of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede and resident of the area accused the marketers of being fixated on generating income and not providing power supply.
“ They seem only interested in meeting their set targets “, she said.
Mr Anthony Uba, a retiree complained that although the area had been moved to Band C billing schedule the DISCO has not ensured that the number of hours of supply is commensurate with the upgraded billing.
“ How bills brought in July, August and September 2024 vary with an increase of at least N2,000 between consecutive months, when power supply hasn’t changed is alarming, to say the least “, he said.
Stakeholders have however advocated a return to the metering system of calculating consumption rather than estimated billing.
Some consumers have also suggested that since bills are estimated, payment of such bills could also be estimated, especially when consumers are denied utility for payments made.
While these are opinions open to scrutiny, C-Advocate calls on the EEDC to look into the concerns raised by consumers as Nigerians already have a lot on their hands.
Electricity bills must tally with consumption, one way or the other. It is the customer’s right to know the parameters for a billing system, and this must not be shrouded in secrecy.
