A Civil Society Group, Africa Anti Slavery Coalition, AASLAC, has exposed the latest method being deployed by Electricity Distribution Companies, DisCos, to extort Nigerians and fleece them of their hard-earned money....Read Full Article >>➤
The group has therefore approached the National Assembly, urging it to invoke its powers of oversight and organise a Public Hearing in Lagos to save Nigerians from the extortion which is being done through the prepaid metering system.
In a statement by its Convener, Comrade Tony Masha, the group regretted that prepaid metering, which was intended to bring succour to electricity consumers by ensuring that they pay for what they consume, has become a source of intolerable extortion by DisCos. It said: “The current practice in most parts of Lagos metropolis is for DisCos to lure unsuspecting consumers to fill forms for prepaid meters and once that has been done, bills will begin to accumulate whether the prepaid meters were installed or not.
“Thus, consumers are trapped, through this fraudulent method, into accumulating debts running into hundreds of thousands of Naira for prepaid meters that were never installed let alone connected to the residences of those concerned. This is very unfortunate and must stop.”
According to AASLAC, in one instance under Ikeja Electric in Gbagada, Lagos, the prepaid meters of the flats in a compound were yanked off when the residents had gone to work and businesses and, on inquiry, they were told to pay more than N367,000 for a prepaid meter that was applied for to power the borehole about two years ago but was never installed despite that reports by the landlord to Ikeja Electric to stop raising bills on the meter were treated with contempt.
The group noted that there were cases when two buildings, for example, House 18A and House 18B in a street, the residents were disconnected because one or two occupants in one of the buildings were owing bills.
“A landlord in the Ojota area had his light disconnected in his absence and when he inquired, he was told that a tenant, who is on estimated billing, was owing and he wondered what that has got to do with him.
“In fact, in one pathetic instance, someone who bought a dilapidated building and rebuilt it in Gbagada was ordered to pay about N500,000 on the excuse that the residents of the property before he built his own owed electricity bills. What a travesty of justice,” the group lamented.
AASLAC urged the National Assembly to visit DisCos offices in Lagos under cover and see how citizens are treated like slaves by discourteous officials of electricity companies who see themselves as demi-gods, adding that extortion has intensified as we approach the festive period.
“The good news is that the Senate itself has recognised that the privatisation of the power sector in 2013, was a failure and needs to be revisited.
“As part of the sensitisation, the National Assembly must visit DisCos offices nationwide and listen to the tale of woes by Nigerians who suffer all manner of humiliation, extortion and hostility from officers of these electricity companies,” the group added.
Be the first to comment