Electricity Consumers Protest Outrageous Bills

Electricity consumers in Lagos have called on the National Assembly and the Federal Government to prevail on the PHCN management to stop the arbitrary billing of consumers through estimation method.

  They told newsmen  in Lagos on Friday that arbitrary and excessive billing of consumers called for urgent intervention by the lawmakers and the government.

Mr Taofeek Bamidele, a resident of Ilupeju Estate, Lagos, said the attitude of PHCN officials amounted to cheating consumers.

According to him, there is need for urgent measures to address the abnormalities in the billing system and save innocent electricity consumers.

Bamidele said that for over three months now, most residents around Ilupeju have not enjoyed electricity supply and PHCN officials keep sending huge and unrealistic bills, known as “crazy bills” to them monthly.

“The national assembly members and government should put a stop to this anomaly,’’ he said.

Many residents of Festac Town, Lagos, complained that each flat was being billed about the same amount every month, “whether the apartment is vacant or occupied”.

They said their protests to PHCN on such method of working toward a “monthly revenue target by merely allotting what should be paid by consumers is abnormal”.

According to most of Festac residents, the issue of prepaid metre, expected to solve the problem of crazy bills,  is being treated at snail’s speed by PHCN officials.

Mr Andrew Sodipe, a resident of Gbagada area of Lagos, implored the federal government to prevail on PHCN to install prepaid metres for consumers, so “we can ‘pay-as-we-go’ as is the case with mobile phone consumption”.

Sodipe said that he was placed on estimation, even when he had a functional meter, adding that it was a cheating.

“The most frustrating part of it is that even if there is no electricity for most of a month, we are still made to pay the same bill we paid previously,” he said.

Alhaji Salami Badmus, a resident of Ikate in Ajah area of Lagos, said: “many Nigerians appear to be at the mercy of the PHCN because it is the only supplier of electricity”.

“It is just like a racket. If you try to ask for your right they will disconnect you and leave you with no alternative but to come back and beg them since there is no alternative”, Badmus said.

Mr Frank Taylor, a resident of Iponri Housing Estate, explained that though he was a prepaid meter user, he was still being harassed by PHCN officials.

“I was surprised when a PHCN official asked me to pay N1,000 as maintenance allowance for the meter monthly. I don’t understand this”.

“I am being cheated because I expect the PHCN to charge for repairs only when my meter is faulty and not these arbitrary charges. After all, I paid for the meter”, Taylor said.

Contacted on the complaints, PHCN, Lagos Zone, told newsmen that efforts were on to address all the issues raised by electricity consumers.