Some residents of Kaduna have protested over what they termed as “tripple billing and poor power supply” by Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO).
The residents, who were mainly from Doka district in Kaduna North local government area, said they were being short-changed by the company.
The residents, who went to the headquarters of the company to lay their complain, noted that even the new prepaid meters installed for residents were charging “unbelievable” amounts for electricity not even supplied.
The leader of the protesters, Malam Ladan Abdullahi, said the recent bills distributed by the company for the month of March had tripled from what it used to be.
Abdullahi said the bill had risen from an average of N4,000 per house to as much as N14, 000 to N17, 000.
He said there was no reason for the sharp increase, as there was no dramatic improvement in the supply of electricity to the area.
“There has not been any reason or information given by KEDCO on the high cost of electricity, we just found out that our bills have dramatically increased,” he said.
The protesters urged the company to review its charges, so as not to force those with menial jobs and relying on electricity out of business.
The Corporate Communication Manager of the company, Mr Abdulaziz Abdullahi, who addressed the protesters, denied any increase in tariff by KEDCO.
“There is no increase in tariff and we don’t intend to increase the tariff, if there is any discrepancy in your billing we need to sit with some of your leaders so as to sort out the problem.
“All the places that have challenges of power supply lets find out what the problem is,” he said.