Residents of Enugu state that do not use the electricity prepaid meter has this week and the past week been lamenting over the outrageous increment on October light bill. The bills which were brought at the beginning of this month were received with anger and confusion as to why the sudden increase despite the untold hardship in the country and epileptic power supply.
Notabella blog was at the Abakpa Division HQ today where many customers came to express their displeasure and to find out if really there was a mix up somewhere, because according to them the increment was outrageous and ridiculous. From my inquiry I discovered that most of them who lived around Trans-Ekulu, Nike Road, even 9th mile had their bills increased for almost 200%. In figures, some were increased from between N3,000-N4,000 to N12,000- N18,000 where as some were as high as N32,000 or more! To them, this was outrageous and they needed an explanation and reduction to what they called 'normal' bill.
I spoke with the Customer care personnel, she said 'that's what we saw this month, in fact many people have been coming and complaining, go upstairs and meet our oga, the billing manager, he knows best.'
The Billing Manager, simply identified as Mr Jude addressed the angry customers, according to him, the bill has been set, it wasn't a mistake and it is as a result of policy changes from NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission). He said that the bill skyrocketed so much because the higher office from which they buy energy complained over low turnovers i.e they buy and sell out high energy and make low profits. So to curtail that, they imposed a system of energy sharing which affected customers that do not use prepaid meters. These customers had to bear the burden of paying for the unaccounted expended energy probably used by individuals who 'steal' energy or use energy without paying for it, due to illegal connections,etc. In reassurance to the customers whose tempers have risen, he promised that the bill won't be that high next month because of low energy usage due to the absence of light being experienced lately already.
Does this mean innocent customers have to pay the price of miscreants in the society, Customers now have to enjoy low bills as long as they do not have adequate energy supply and to augment this, they have to buy petrol for N145/L with this current recession, which way Nigeria???
Did you experience this in your area??
Seriously. They are indeed very clueless. The reason why many still go for the illegal connections.
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