…eedc says Assembly acted in ignorance
From Petrus Obi, Enugu
Following the recent protests by residents of Enugu over poor services and over billing by the Enugu Distribution Company, EEDC, Enugu State House of Assembly, yesterday, passed a resolution urging the state government to look into the activities of the company in the interest of peace.
Aggrieved residents had besieged the assembly complex in their hundreds insisting that the electricity company must leave the state. The Assembly through a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Hon. Chinedu Nwamba, Nsukka East constituency, unanimously condemned the distribution company. The Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edward Ubosi, after putting the motion to question, described the activities of the distribution company as “digital fraud” saying he was also a victim. “We can’t accept it and what the Assembly is saying by this motion is that, “enough is enough.”
In the motion, the lawmakers urged the State Government to declare a state of emergency on the distribution company and at the same time instructed Enugu residents to stop payment of electricity bills which they did not consume.
The Chairman, House Committee on information, Hon. Paul Nnajiofor, noted that the performance of EEDC was worse than the defunct National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA).
The Assembly further described EEDC billing system as daylight robbery, stating that for every unit of power, Enugu was overpaying with N10 and N13 when compared with Abuja and Lagos respectively.
The legislature alleged that the EEDC was defrauding Enugu residents to the tune of over N4.8 billion monthly through indirect extortion.
They, therefore, urged the Federal Government to direct the National Electricity Regulatory Commission to stop EEDC from billing customers on estimation and ensure that meters are supplied to consumers who have no meters. They also advised the setting up of a technical committee that will check the quality of the new meters that are currently being supplied to the public to know if the setting is commensurate with unit consumption. The lawmakers also called on other states in the South-East to take similar steps and declare war against the EEDC, which they said, has failed to perform. The Speaker announced a six man ad hoc committee led by deputy speaker Rt. Hon. Dons Uzoagbado to conduct a three day public hearing, on the EEDC saga, specifying that each of the three days would serve for each senatorial zone of the state. While reacting, the company maintained that the Assembly was not well informed about the current challenges, claiming that it was operating under the heavy debts owed mostly by the government.