Electricity consumers in Akwa Ibom State have accused the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company of extortion.
The consumers alleged on Wednesday in
Uyo that the PHEDC had abandoned their responsibilities to members of
the public, but circulates outrageous bills to Akwa Ibom residents.
A consumer and resident of Anwa Nsa
Street, Uyo, Mr. Idongesit Ekpenyong, said the idea behind the estimated
billing system was the company’s calculated plan to gain at the expense
of the public as any appropriate billing system would have revealed the
true state of services rendered.
Ekpenyong alleged that after one year of
total blackout owing to faulty transformer, the company, after
installing a new one, sent bills covering the one-year period of
blackout.
“Imagine a situation where you had no
light in your area, not even a flash for one full year, and after one
year they brought in bills covering the entire period of total blackout.
Some flats were receiving bills of N150, 000 and single rooms
N50-70,000 for the period,” he said.
Another consumer and resident of Esuene
Street, Mr. Isaiah Udofia, said PHEDC had defied every sense of
responsibility and duty to members of Akwa Ibom public.
He said the company supplied powers to
most streets in Uyo just within 48 hours to distribution of bills as a
bait to lure the people to pay bills.
The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly
had, in response to the public outcry, criticised the power distribution
company. This followed a notice of motion brought before the House by
the member representing Ibesikpo Asutan State Constituency, Mr. Aniekan
Uko, during its plenary, with the motion titled, ‘The unwholesome and
alleged fraudulent charges on electricity consumers in Akwa Ibom State
by PHEDC.’
The team leader, Public Communications,
John Onyi, said consumers were charged according to the amount of energy
they are supplied.
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