Electricity Consumers Protest Poor Supply In PH

Electricity Consumers in Borikiri and other parts of the old Port Harcourt Township Wednesday staged a peaceful protest to the head office of the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution company (PHED), Moscow Road, Port Harcourt over poor electricity supply in the area.
The protesters who were in their hundreds obstructed traffic flow on Moscow Road and accused the company of subjecting the area to total darkness.
Spokesman of the protesters, Precious George, told newsmen that in spite of several appeals to authorities of the electricity firm to restore power supply to the area, the company turned deaf ears to their appeal.
George also stated that in spite of the poor electricity supply in the area, the company had continued to issue outrageous bills based on estimation.
George said, “We are here today because, we are being marginalised. Imagine a country where the economic situation is very bad and the poor man needs light to do petty businesses, yet there is no light. It’s very sad.”
They accused PHED of managing only to give supply one or two days in a week and  each time the light comes, it does not last for more than three hours.
The Tide gathered that in Elekahia, PHED gives light for complete 13 hours every day, Orazi area,  18 hours  and Eastern By-Pass, 16 hours every day.
“Then, we started asking ourselves if we are not equal creatures, created by God. Why punishing us? This is why we decided to carry out this protest to ask PHED why the punishment,” the spokesman lamented.
The protesters called on the Rivers State Government to look into the poor power supply to the state, describing it as impunity over the citizens, as they were forced to pay for services not consumed.
The Public Relations Officer of PHED, John Onyi, explained that the company’s record showed that in New Road and the Sandfill feeders Borikiri axis had between eight to nine hours supply per day.
“So it is not true if they say they are not getting light at all, because by our records and readings from the meter here, it shows they are having light 7, 8, to 9 hours in a day.
“Today, as we speak, we have 201 Megawatts from the national grid. Yesterday, we had 178 as against 784 installed capacity,” he said, stressing that the company supplies based on what it gets from the national grid.
Onyi advised the protesters to make use of the call centres, if they experience any fault in the electricity supply in their areas promising that the company would offer a  quick response.

Chris Oluoh/Susan Serekara-Nwikhana