Hundreds of aggrieved electricity consumers, including civil society organisations took to the streets in Port Harcourt on Wednesday to protest what they termed continued estimated billings by the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company.
While asking the Power Dstribution company to leave the state, the protesters under the aegis of Concerned Electricity Consumers in Rivers State, blocked the entrance of the PHEDC head office along Moscow Road, demanding to be addressed by the Managing Director.
The protesters who carried placards bearing inscriptions such as, ‘No to illegal disconnections’, ‘Give us prepaid meters’ , ‘Residents of Ogbogoro rejects N3.6m outrageous demand by PHEDC to supply power to the area’, among others.
The Chairman, Rivers State Civil Society Organisations, Enefaa Georgewill, who led the protest, said the protest was a preamble, as the mother of all protests was underway if the illegal activities of the company continued.
Georgewill accused the National Electricity Regulatory Commission of abdicating its responsibility and its inability to properly regulate the electricity distribution companies in the country, describing the case of PHEDC as outrageous.
“NERC which is supposed to regulate and police the electricity distribution sector has failed; they are romancing the Discos instead of policing them.
“Estimated billing is daylight robbery; we say no to overbilling of electricity customers. If a man has failed, the right thing to do is to send him packing. Are you aware that PHEDC is selling the free prepaid meters provided by the Federal Government? They should pack and go”.
Also speaking, a man who claims to be a victim of estimated billing, Mr. Kofi Bartels, said, “We are asking them to stop outrageous, illogically high electricity bills and illegal disconnections of customers.
“I have received number of bills from PHEDC that I feel are outrageously higher than what I should be billed.
“I think as a corporate company, the PHEDC needs to listen to the views, cries and the grievances of its customers. It is also a public service provider that the people deserve a right to interact with and complain to them and also hear from them.”
Meanwhile, the protesters, who marched from the Sharks Football Stadium on Ilorin Street through Moscow to the firm’s office on Moscow Road, expressed disappointment that the Managing Director of the firm left the premises without addressing them.
But speaking, the acting Manager, Corporate Communications PHED, Mrs. Chioma Aninwe, said the firm was open to dialogue with aggrieved customers, as a responsible organisation.