IBEDC fleeces Osun residents

THE IBADAN ELECTRICITY Distribution Company, IBEDC, is fleecing electricity users in Osun State. Investigations by The Telescope Nigeria show that both the prepaid owners and the unmetered are being swindled by the electricity distribution companies. The unmetered are however more at the receiving end.
The unmetered are forced to pay a monthly bill ranging from N8, 000 to N20, 000. The distribution company disconnect their electricity at will without following the procedure laid down by the National #electricity Regulation Commission, NERC, which stipulates that notices must be served to consumers before electricity are disconnected.
When their electricity are disconnected, IBEDC staff lumped about three to five cables together and billed them N20, 000 each and charge them N3,000 each as reconnection fee while only N3,000 is paid into the cover of the company and the staff smiles away with the remaining N3,000 each from the other lumped cables.
The pre-paid meter users are a little bit well off. But they face issues of “tamper Code”, which the substandard pre-paid meters supplied by IBEDC constantly bring up. Sometimes a user may experience it once in a quarter and sometimes as many as thrice in a quarter.
To get the code from their staff, most times, are an herculean task as users may have to wait 24 to 48 hours in some instance with the excuse that the “network is bad”. However, where their palms are greased, the “network will then be good”.
Our reporters found out that some of the IBEDC pre-paid metres that were faulty were not repaired and the users are made to pay between N17,000 to N20,000 and were asked to pay N130,000 for another pre-paid metre/
More notorious in these acts are the monitoring team from the Ede Zone. In a recent operation, they disconnected various households from the electricity grid without any notice and without thorough assessment in the Ifon Orolu areas.
People spoken to by The Telescope Nigeria revealed the nefarious activities of the monitoring team and the Ifon staff of IBEDC. Their names have been protected to forestall undue attacks and reprisals.
“I pay a monthly fee of between N5,000 to N8,000 on a self contained apartment where I use only bulbs, a fridge and charge my phones. I barely stay at home as I come back around 7:00 pm and sometimes 8:30 pm from Osogbo where I work.
“I paid the September bill and I travelled around on the 15th of October only to return on the 20th of October to meet my apartment in the dark and stinking with spoilt food in the freezer.
“I went to their office the following day and the only explanation was that they were not responsible for the disconnection and that it was from the Ede Zonal Office. I asked them that why would they go away with my cable or is it their property, they said they did not disconnect my line that only Ede Zone can give reply to that. I pressed further to at least see my cable to be sure it has not been sold out, I was shocked to see that it was bundled with other four cables from different apartments or houses and with one number.
“Upon further inquiry, I was informed that the Ede Zone said each owner of cable must pay N20,000 each and N3,000 disconnection fee each. I asked but you lumped these cables together and they have only one number, they replied that that was the directives from Ede”.
Another said it is better “not to use their electricity as they only derive pleasure from milking people. Imagine I am living in a two bedroom apartment with my children. My husband is rarely home and I work at Osogbo. The earliest time I come back is late evening. Yet I am being forced to pay N10, 000 monthly.
“We were promised that pre-paid meter would be distributed, we did not hear anything, but when they disconnected the electricity, their manager was now saying why didn’t we come for prepaid meters when they were distributing them. I now asked when were they available? He said he was begging people to come and take them. I now asked him to come and instal one in my house, he said that one is finished and if I need one now, I need to pay N137, 000.
“They are just reaping us out. How can I pay you for something that will record your sales after paying for the electricity? Shopping malls should then be asking us to pay for their cash registers as well. Nigeria is a scam”.
Efforts made to speak with the manager at Ifon was futile and calls made to Ms. Kikelomo Owoeye, spokesperson of IBEDC in Osun State did not go through and whatsapp message sent to her, which was delivered were not responded to.