Electricity customers in Anambra state have called on the federal government to save them from the burden of efficiency in the sector under the Distribution Companies (DisCos).
The customers made call during a protest against the services of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) in Ekwulobia, Aguata council of the state on Tuesday.
The protesters under the auspices of Ekwulobia Traders and Allied Workers Association (ETAWA) said that EEDC was not supplying sufficient power; not giving them prepaid metre and charging them exorbitant bills.
The aggrieved customers who were no fewer than 500 bore placards of various inscriptions including; “Attention Sir Emeka Offor”, “Help the poor masses EEDC”, “Give us Prepaid metre”, “Non-Indigenes need pre-paid metre” .
Other inscriptions were “Ekwulobia Traders Need Pre-paid Metre”, “Give us good electricity supply”, “Is Ekwulobia Different From Other Towns? among others.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Chairman of ETAWA, Ebere Nnopu said the ‘killer bills’ system of the EEDC was no longer acceptable and urged them to metre their customers expeditiously.
Nnopu who described the harsh treatment of EEDC as economic sabotage said most businesses in the area that that relied on electricity for their operations had died and many people rendered jobless.
“We cannot take this type of poor service anymore, we are suffering, no light, no prepaid metres and the bills they are giving us are crazy.
“We want the EEDC to buckle up or handover to who can serve us better,” he said.
Addressing the crowd, Mr Ogbonna Kanu, the Ekwulobia EEDC Network Acting manager, said they had had noted their grievances and promised to address them.
Kanu said that the low energy supply from EEDC was not their fault as they distribute only from the electricity made available to them by the generating and transmission firms.
The manager said that efforts have reached advanced stage to get more prepaid metres for the customers in the area and assured they would be metered soon.
He said power supply in the area would improve when the upgrade of the 30KVA substation at Nibo to 60 KVA was concluded possibly before the end of the year.
On the amount they were billed, Kanu said it was neither crazy nor killer but a reflection of the amount of energy supplied to the customers.
He further join the EEDC in the crusade against electricity thieves including those bypassing their metres and those not paying at all, noting that it was affecting the service delivery negatively.
