 |
Powerlines (Photo credit: PREMIUM TIMES)
|
Reports monitored by GRAPHITTI NEWS show that in
several areas of the Port Harcourt metropolis, residents are complaining bitterly
of arbitrary bills from the PHED. This appears to be the trend up and down the
country.
A private home consumer in the state capital said that
the PHED always used the estimated bill system to give him a bill of N4, 000
monthly on the average.
Business owners are equally frustrated at the huge
figures which the PHED gives them monthly as bills even as the electricity
supply has greatly deteriorated.
In the GRA (both the Old and New) the only consumers
not complaining are those using the prepaid meter.
Reports from other news agencies confirm GRAPHITTI
NEWS findings.
Stories monitored across Oyo, Ondo, Kaduna and Niger States indicate that the issue of estimated bills are a huge concern for consumers even in the face of deteriorating power supply.
The residents of Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital,
have expressed worries over ‘arbitrary’ electricity bills by the Abuja
Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC. The AEDC is one of the recently
privatised electricity distribution companies. It supplies electricity to Abuja
and Nasarawa State. Consumers who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES after a forum in Lafia
urged the state assembly to investigate the increase in electricity bills by
almost 50 per cent monthly.
Ibrahim Saleh of Lungun Wambai said that his bill is
increased by almost half of the previous month’s charges.
“Last month I paid N2,000; this month they brought N3,000,”
he said.
Mohammed Usman of Low Cost Housing Estate also
complained of similar problems, as well as of increase in charges without
corresponding increase in electricity supplied.
“We continue to pay bills without power supply and
they continue to increase the tariff and I have only three bulbs,” Mr. Usman
said.
Many of the consumers said the electricity company
hardly reads their metres (not prepaid), but brings arbitrary bills.
No comments:
Post a Comment