Some electricity consumers in Adeleye Aparadija Community in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State have threatened to stop payment of the monthly electricity charges unless they were given bills.
They told our correspondent in Lagos that about 96 houses in the community were paying monthly charges into an account allegedly created by Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC).
A landlord at Ola-Oluwa Street, Alhaji Shehu Tijani, said that few consumers in the community were receiving monthly bills, while many others were paying directly into this account without bills.
Tijani said that all efforts made by the Community Development Association to ensure that all houses were given bills by IBEDC proved abortive.
He said consumers had resolved that they would no longer pay charges unless they receive their monthly electricity bills like others.
“Enough is enough; we cannot continue to pay our money into any account any longer.
“IBEDC should treat us like other consumers; we want our data to appear in the system like others.
“How do we know whether the money we pay enter genuine account or not.
“We want them to give us our monthly bills even, if prepaid meters are not available,” he said.
Also, Mr Alidu Ahmeed, a resident at Mubau Street, said that consumers in the community had been paying into this account for over two years without receipts.
Ahmeed said, “We are only being careful; because, if another management comes tomorrow and ask us for evidence of payment, what do we say.
“We cannot justify all the money they have been collecting from us all these years, because there are no receipts to back up the payment.
“We believe that only residents, who are collecting monthly electricity bills, are the ones they are charging for energy consumption, while our money goes to an unknown account,” he said.
In his comments, Mr Julius Adewole, a landlord in Ifelodun Street, urged IBEDC to enumerate consumers in the community, saying that only the
billing method would put their minds to rest.
“You can imagine two people paying money, when one received receipt, other will go empty handed, it is injustice.
“We do not want a situation in which at the end of the year they will bring bills that will cover all the energy that we have consumed,” Adewole said.
Reacting, Mrs Angela Olanrewaju, the Head, Corporate Communications of IBEDC, said that the account was created for consumers in the unit to remit their monthly charges.
Olanrewaju said there was no fraud about it, adding that consumers in the area were paying the money into the IBEDC substation account in the area.
She said that their monthly electricity bills would be ready by the end of November.