30th April, 2015
Electricity consumers in Oshodi area of Lagos on Thursday bemoaned the poor electricity supply to the community in the last two months.
They told NAN in separate interviews that the irregular electricity supply had compounded their socioeconomic situation.
Mr Ibrahim Sanusi, a resident of Salawu Street, Oshodi, described the electricity supply in the area as disappointing.
“Electricity supply here is frustrating; at time in a day they will bring electricity but before you attempt to utilise it, the power is gone.
“It has really affected the socioeconomic development here because there is no business again.
“Most artisans in the area are now riding on commercial motorcycles because the erratic power supply has crippled their business,” he said.
Mrs Chidinma Okonkwo, a frozen food trader in Arowojebe Street, said that she spent about N6,000 weekly to buy petrol for her generator.
She said that the poor electricity supply was compounded by the arbitrary billing of consumers in the area.
“At the end of the month, I spent N24,000 on petroleum and they will still bring estimated bill of N8,000.
“The bill is uncalled for since the supply is not regular,” she said.
Mr Dada Bamigbose, a landlord at Oremeji Street, said the residents’ applications for prepaid meters had been ignored by officials of Ikeja Electric (IE).
Bamigbose also complained that their situation was worsened by the postpaid meters in the estate which were either outdated or old.
“Estimated billing in the current framework is a rip-off that must stop forthwith.
“If the existing postpaid meters are not working well, it is the responsibility of IE to fix them because they charge us meter maintenance fees.
“Most estates in Lagos are now using prepaid meters, why are we not among them,” he asked.
Mr Pekun Adeyanju, the Assistant General Manager, Public Affairs Division, IE, told NAN that energy allocation from national grid was low.
“Allocation from transmission has dropped drastically. Most of the time some of transmission stations in IE have not been receiving any energy from energy allocation.
“We know what our consumers are passing through, but we want to assure them that supply will soon improve,” he said.
On metering, he assured consumers that the company would start metering of all consumers by the beginning of June.
Adeyanju also said that all electricity consumers in the zone would be metered free of charge.