Some electricity consumers on Wednesday in Lagos decried what they termed “arbitrary billing’’ by the Ikeja Electric (IE) for the month of August.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in separate interviews that coded billing by the company was 400 per cent higher than what they charged in July.
Mr Johnson Oladapo, a resident of Mafoluku in Oshodi Area of Lagos, said that the present bill by company did not reflect what he consumed August.
Oladapo also described the August billing as clear case of extortion by the company and urged it to recall the outrageous bill.
“In June, I received a bill of N3,700 for my two bedroom flat, in July they brought N7,400 and the August bill currently stood N27,500.
“What is the parameters they are using to billing consumers?
“The management of IE should as a matter of urgency recall all bills sent out from the month of August because the billing did not reflect what we consumed.
“This is injustice, we cannot continue to pay for what we did not use,’’ he said.
Mr Folorunsho Aremu, a landlord at Abeokuta Street, Ilasamaja, said that he received N40,590 bill for the month of August.
Aremu said that he went to Oshodi Business Unit of the company at Okota Area of Lagos to complain about the arbitrary billing but was told by the official there to go and pay the bill.
“Their staff at Okota said that since my meter was not working, I was on coded billing.
“He told me that they used one figure for all of us in that place and I have to pay that amount.
“My monthly salary is not up to N40,000, where will I get money to pay that huge amount of money,’’ Aremu said.
He said that the official of the company had disconnected him from their electricity pole because he could not pay the bill.
Aremu appealed to the company to reconnect him back, adding that he always pay his electricity bill until they brought the crazy one.
Mrs Alice Kolawole, a frozen food trader at Ikotun market, wondered why the company should bill her N45,000 for one month when she hardly used electricity in her shop.
Kolawole urged the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to overhaul the nation’s electricity billing system and stop crazy billing.
Another consumer from Arowojobe Street, Oshodi, Mr Folorunsho Kuti, urged the company to accelerate the distribution of prepaid meters to their consumers.
“For the past three years, the company has promised to distribute the meters but they have not.
“They have continued to enjoy coded billing of their consumers who are not on functional meters.
“Going to their unit in my area did not help my case because the office their said I should pay the August bill of N30,000 for my three bedroom flat.
“I do not have a factory in my house and I wonder why these people give monthly bills of between N25,000 and N30,000,’’ Kolawole said.
Mrs Franca Okorie, a resident of Amuwo-Odofin in FESTAC Town, urged NERC to sanction the company for their inadequacies.
Okorie said that sanction would reduce the issuance of coded billing and made them to accelerate the installation of prepaid meters.
Mr Pekun Adeyanju, IE Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs, urged the affected consumers with outrageous bills to visit any of their 10 commercial units for harmonisation of their complains.
Adeyanju said the unit were responsible for billing of their consumers and should be able to resolve the bills.
He also pleaded with electricity consumers under the zone to exercise patience, stressing that the installation of prepaid meters in the zone was ongoing. (NAN)
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