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By Alphonsus Nweze, Onitsha
The residents of IyiOwa, Odekpe in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State have protested the disconnection of their light by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), resulting in total blackout in the area for more than one month now.
Addressing newsmen during the protest in which they carried placards demanding immediate restoration of electricity in the Area, their President -General, Mr. Sunday Obinze,said that since they were upgraded to band A, EEDC has been given them outrageous bill, ranging from N80, 000 to N150 per a flat.
He said they approached the officials of EEDC and even wrote them but they did not respond.
Then, he said, they took the matter to National Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC), which checked the reading and they told them to about N31,000 which they agreed to pay even though it is still on on high side.
But instead of accepting the judgement of NERC that they should pay N31,000, EEDC came and removed the light, plunging them in darkness for more than one month now.
The secretary of the community, Hon. Dr. Chukwunonso Okolie, contended that EEDC has no right to disconnect the entire community because about 80 percent of them are using prepaid meter.
He said by disconnecting the entire community EEDC has breached their agreement with those using prepaid meter.
The secretary said majority of the residents are pretty traders and farmers who cannot afford to pay the EEDC’s latest huge and outrageous bill.
He also queried the powers of EEDC to disobey the ruling of NERC in this matter, asking: ” are they mafia organisation that they can’t abide byv the ruling of the regulatory body like NERC. Are beyond the laws of the land”.
A stakeholder in the community, Dame Chinyere Mbakwe, decried the disconnection of their light without prior information from EEDC, warning EEDC that they would not pay for these number of months their night was disconnected because “they would now bring bills for us to pay when we did not use the light”.
She also called on the EEDC to bring more prepaid meter to them in IyiOwa Odekpe as part of reducing what she called extortion.
Another stakeholder, Hon. Elder Ugochukwu Ugwueje, said their extortion by EEDC has been long,saying that it was just now that they woke up to them in gross Injustice.
He said instead of these crazy and outrageous bills, they should be returned back to status-quo.
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