By Ben Kati
Aggrieved residents of Bwari Area Council are threatening to ground Abuja Electricity and Distribution Company (AEDC) in the area over crazy bills by the staff of the company.
The residents at the weekend staged a protest when AEDC officials came to disconnect their light, insisting that the officials should also remove their meter which they alleged was an industrial meter.
They described the exorbitant estimated tariffs they are forced to pay monthly by the AEDC as ‘criminal and injustice’ while demanding that prepaid meters be made available to them immediately.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the Union Chairman of Federal Government Girls’ College, Bwari, Ajiloye Samuel lamented that despite the fact that each residents is forced to pay 6,000-7,000 naira monthly which amounts to 300,000 in total; the AEDC still insists they have an outstanding bill of 5 million naira.
Ajiloye further noted that the school and residents have resolved to intensify their agitation until all the illegalities of the AEDC are addressed.
According to him, “We are agitating for the light bill which the AEDC is giving us the residents and staff, the bill is too much for us and we are saying that we cannot pay the bills again because its too high.
“They’re giving us industrial bills from an industrial meter in which we are not manufacturing anything in the school. We are all residents like any other customer in the town. So we are now telling them that, we held a meeting with all the residential staff on Wednesday and agreed that when they come to cut the light, they should also carry their industrial meter away. We cannot service the industrial meter.
“From 2019, we have been servicing industrial meter and each year we pay 6000 naira and at the end, they’ll be bringing bill of 700,000-800,000 nairab for about 52 houses. This is after all of us have paid 6000 naira amounting to over 300,000 and our bill is accumulating.
“The school had to set up a tax force that they should go and take inventory in each houses to know what each residents is using and at the end of the tax force assignment, the AEDC are now bringing new bill that some houses are paying 27,000 naira per month. We cannot cope again”.
