Prepaid Meter User Raises Alarm Over Illegal Disconnection

A public servant residing at Elekahia Housing Estate in Port Harcourt, Rivers State Capital Barrister Thomas Adoga, has cried out over continued blackout he was facing in his apartment due to disconnection of his electricity supply by officers of Port Harcourt Distribution Company, (PHED).
Barrister Adoga complained to The Tide that he had been in darkness since January 11, 2022, when the PHED officers disconnected his meter under the guise of his prepaid meter being faulty.
According to him, “on the 11th of January this year, officials of PHED, came to my residence and disconnected my power supply on the footing that my meter is bad. They invited me to their Head Office at Moscow Road which I complied”.
He noted that October, last year, his meter actually was faulty when he found it blank while trying to load the prepaid units he had purchased.
“Sometime in October, when I wanted to load, I couldn’t load because the loading pad was blank so I made a report at their Trans Amadi office.
“They sent their engineers who came and had it fixed…I travelled after that and returned, January 6, this year, only for them to come in my absence to disconnect my power supply saying my meter, which they had their personnel fix is bad again”, he said.
Adoga explained that he visited the Moscow Road office where he was directed to meet a lady who issued him Disconnection Notice, which he observed ought to have been given before the disconnection and a bill of over six hundred and eighty two thousand naira.
He stated that in with surprise, he asked to meet with a superior officer, Director of Revenue Protection, who affrmed the bill saying in meter was carrying 46amps, and asked him how “a prepaid meter in a three-bedroom private residence at Elekahia Housing Estate would generate that within December 2021 and January 2022”.
He noted that after several attempts to have power restored to his apartment failed, he petitioned PHED to Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria, which he stated had also not been successful.
He appealed to relevant authorities to come to his rescue.
Efforts to reach the Director of Revenue Protection, PHED, Bond Mbam, and the Zonal Coordinator, South-South Consumer Protection Council, Mr Osi, proved abortive as at press time.

By: Tonye Nria-Dappa