Several electricity consumers in Ibadan have lamented the failure of the Alternate payment channels of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), especially the online recharge channel which was pegged at N10,000 max.
The customers who had initially rejected the proposed increase in tariffs of the power supply being proposed by the Power Distribution Company, raised the alarm of the new method adopted by IBEDC to limit their prepaid recharge rate to N10,000; thereby making it difficult for some heavy energy users to operate optimally.
While responding to the allegations and plights of the electricity consumers, the IBEDC regional communication officer, Mr. Frank Williams, said the commission deliberately pegged the limit of the online electricity voucher, otherwise known as prepaid meter token to N10,000 so as to check on some customers who thought there would be an increase in tariffs of power supply and thereby, bombarded the alternate online payment channel of the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company and blocked other micro customers from purchasing electricity token.
He further said the directive given by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to suspend for two weeks the implementation of the new electricity tariffs they introduced on September 1, 2020, is still in full force.
He, however, noted that the two weeks dialogue between the Nigeria Labor Congress, NLC, its counterpart, TUC, and the federal government to review the new electricity tariffs will end next Monday, nothing that the (DisCos) will agree to and implement any outcome of the meeting.
It would be recalled that the price of electricity tariffs increase saw the unit cost of electricity rise from about N33 per Kilowatt-hour to about N66, which as at the time of filing this report, it’s not yet accepted by the Nigerians and civil society organizations.
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