Residents in Lagos are protesting the increased wave of illegal billing and extortion being carried out on their communities by staff of the Eko and Ikeja Electricity Distribution Companies.
The staff of the companies have refused to read the metres of the residents but instead imagine exorbitant charges and slap them on the consumers all in a bid to meet the targets set for them by the management of the companies.
A staff of the Eko Electriciy Distribution Company working in Ijora told The Herald that the management of the company was not interacting with the junior staff of the company well since the operation was handed over to them by government. He said that those on the field had relayed the complaints of residents to senior management but that the management was not ready to listen to such complaints but instead set even higher targets for the marketers resulting in the heavy groaning of Lagos communities under the regime of illegal billing.
Another staff said that there was an error in the bills which was deliberately done at the head office in order to cause the bills of residents to be higher than normal. Residents who normally obtained bills of N5000 had been receiving bills in excess of N20,000 monthly since the beginning of this year.
Some residents of Ikeja Electricity DISCO took their complaints to the IKEDC headquarters in Alausa, calling on the management to stop the illegal billing and extortion.