From Msurshima Andrew, Makurdi
Residents of Makurdi, the Benue state capital, have continued to lament over the outrageous monthly electric bills they receive from the Jos Electricity Distribution (JED) Company, despite the poor power supply to them.
The residents also lamented days of power outage without explanation from the officials.
They have therefore urged the Federal Government to call the company to order as they had allegedly capitalized on the increment on Band A tariff to effect blanket increment of charges on all electricity consumers even without commensurate supply.
Some of the residents including artisans, traders and civil servants who spoke to our correspondent in Makurdi at the weekend expressed their pains and frustrations over the issue saying they are simply being extorted as they are paying for services not rendered.
A barber who runs a salon along George Akume Way, New GRA, who identified himself as Odima, he was charged over N22,000 in the month of May when he did not enjoy up 50 hours of electricity supply in the said month.
He said, “the bill I got for May was over N22,000 even when we did not enjoy up to 50 hours of electricity supply in the month. It is unacceptable. It is as if nobody is regulating or monitoring what JED is doing. We are completely at their mercy. We are paying for darkness not electricity.”
Another resident of Nyon, along Ugondo layout Makurdi, Mrs Msurshima Joseph said she received a bill of N25,000 even when she hardly see electricity.
“Sometimes when they bring light, before children finished shouting NEPA, the light is off. Weekends, our phones are off because we don’t see light to charge it, yet we get bills as high as those running factories. This is extortion to say the least,” she said.
Another civil servant who lives in the High Level axis of Makurdi town, Mr. Jethro Abo, who lamented the epileptic power supply in the area, said, “even when we have faults on the lines and you call them to come and rectify the problem it takes them days to respond. But at the end of the month you get a bill as high as N30,000 for a tenant of two bedroom apartment.
“One begins to wonder how they arrive at that and how they expect us to pay that kind of crazy bill. Is it that the company has capitalized on the increment on Band A Tarrif to effect blanket increment on all electricity charges?
“That is why Labour is insisting that the increment should be reversed. We are being made to pay for electricity that we did not consume.
“In fact it is becoming obvious that the privatisation of the power sector was done in error. Power supply and maintenance services were obviously better under NEPA. We are now paying very high bills without commensurate electricity supply.
“We appeal to President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to reverse the privatisation of the power sector as it has completely failed to achieve the purpose for the sale,” Abo said.
Reacting to the complaints, the Regional Manager of JED in Makurdi, Comrade Ojochide Agbata stated that the review of electricity tariff was not peculiar to Makurdi.
He explained that “It is only for the Feeders on Band A who had their electricity tariff reviewed upward. Moreover Distribution Companies do not have the authority to review tarrifs. Consumption is also a factor in determining bills. When you consume high you pay high and when you consume less you pay less, that is the truth.”
Agbata said there was nothing like blanket increment in tarrifs insisting that the company was not over billing its customers stressing “there is no utility that does not go with cost.
“And on the issue of days of outage in some parts of Makurdi, particularly George Akume Way and Gboko Road axis, I must state that we have been having some technical issues.
“As I am talking to you we have our team of Engineers from Jos since last Wednesday who are still here working on those Injection Substations. So it is not deliberate, we are regulated, so we cannot knock off any Feeder just like that. Work is going on that Gboko Road/BBL Feeder right now.
“We have a very serious technical issue there and we have consulted the headquarters for intervention and once that is resolved, power supply will be stable. I assure you that we are not resting, we are working round the clock to have it resolved,” he said.
