A group of entrepreneurs and customers of Ikeja Electric Plc in Lagos State at weekend sent an SOS to the Minister of Power, while accusing the electricity distribution company of desperate attempts to crush their operations.
Specifically, the complainants accused the officials of the energy supplier, believed to be the largest electricity distribution company in Nigeria, of threatening to ‘’forcefully consficate their meters under the pretext that the consumers were operating with what they termed “‘old meters’”.
Thrice last week, the staff of the company from Igbobi Undertaking in the Somolu area of the state, who reportedly mobilised to forcefully uninstall and chart the meters, away were resisted.
And, despite repeated explanations and appeals, the electricity company team, which the consumers said was led by a male management staff of the company, refused bluntly to listen, saying that Ikeja Electric Distribution Company had already phased out “old meters”, the affected consumers stated.
The group said: “We further appealed to the officers that the meters were purchased by us and that it will be illegal to withdraw the meters which we bought, without replacement. In fact, we told them that we are of the opinion that in normal a clime, the meters should be replaced when they are withdrawing the current ones instead of putting us in darkness. But to our dismay, they mobilised the second day, in multiples, apparently poised for a showdown with us.
“However, as law abiding citizens, we maintained our position that our meters were sold to us by Ikeja Electric and further our claims that we paid with bank drafts in favour of Ikeja Electric, yet they insisted on taking away our property.
“Yet the team leader, who was simply called ‘Sam’, the Undertaking Manager told us that throughout the country, meters are the property of electricity distribution companies, hence they are at liberty to withdraw same anytime, even, without notice.
“Despite the argument that we would inform our lawyers about the development for advice, the Ikeja Electric men re-surfaced the third day with ladders, threatening to illegally chart away our meters and we still, as gentlemen and law abiding citizens, asked them to reason.
“At that point, one of them told us that he did not expect us to argue the matter because if occasion demands, he would never resist taking his own meter by the company. The electricity company said that customers with ‘old meter’ should apply for ‘new meter’, while they would be ‘put on estimates’ pending the approval of their application.
“We were mandated to pay for new meters costing approximately N117,000.00 each within 14 days, failure which the officials threatened to take ‘drastic action'”.
Similar situation was reported by a top Lagos civil servant at the Ipaja New Town Scheme, an estate flagged off by the Lagos State Government in Ilapo Village via AIT Road, Alagbado Lagos. She recently approached Ikeja Electric for the replacement of her damaged cuustomer cards but was told to buy a new meter because the present ones are ‘outdated’.
According to the consumer, “they bluntly told me l would need to immediately pay for a new one which l did not plan for due to the present economic realities’’.
Two of the affected consumers – Mr Dele Oguntayo, a journalist; and Mr Abass Adie, a businessman – narrated how the ‘bold-faced’ Ikeja Electric personnel swooped on their premises for the withdrawal of their meters, which they declined.
Oguntayo explained that he applied for a meter in 2010 having paid N55,000 with a bank draft to Ikeja Electric and was not metered for several months.
While he was being issued what he termed ‘cut-throat estimated bills’ for about a year, he explained that, “at a point, despite operating with a stand-by generator for several hours daily, the Ikeja Electric was billing me thousands of Naira every month.
“The meter l applied for in the first quarter of that year was not supplied until about a year after my application and payment despite repeated visits and pleas to the company.
“Something will interest you: A professional colleague in a news agency as energy correspondent in Lagos had come visiting; and, about a year after his first visit, he promised to take my matter up with the Managing Director of Ikeja Electric.
“He even challenged me that as a journalist, l should have approached either the company’s Head of Public Affairs or better still, the Managing Director.
“So, less than 24 hours of his intervention, two meters were brought to me, same day, on the instruction of the Managing Director of Ikeja Electric!
“My conclusion then was that the officials were hoarding the meters for highest bidders and did not attend to applicants, except through touts.
“It may interest you again that about ten years later, a female staff of the Ikeja Electricity Company who claimed to be of the marketing department came with another joker, claiming that the meter I was using was the allocation of a woman within the zone. She threatened to withdraw the meter because, according to her, l probably manipulated the system to secure the meter through the back-door.
“Consequently, I made several visits to see the Manager when they relocated to Obanikoro area of Ikorodu Road but was always told that their boss was busy. But when I spoke with one Mr Ayeni, the Ikeja Electric spokesman on the telephone last week about the recent threat and my resolve to brief a lawyer, he directed me to one Mrs Ayanga, the Igbobi Business Manager who could still not be reached for an appointment.
Adie said that upgrading of facilities, including the metering system was a welcome development and asked the company to phase payment of the new meter rather than putting consumers on estimated bills after withdrawal of the existing meters.
