Lalupon/Iwo road Feeder Electricity Consumers Association, in Ibadan, has dragged the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBDC) before the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over the erratic power supply been experiencing for over eight years in the area.
Rev Jide Kehinde, Chairman of the association, while speaking with newsmen on Saturday, at the end of the NERC sitting alongside representatives of the IBDC and Lalupon/Iwo road Feeder Electricity Consumers Association, lamented that the affected communities have been on the struggle for the past eight years without concrete solution.
Kehinde said the insensitivity of IBDC to the plight of the consumers had led to closure of industries in the affected communities.
He noted that some artisans even have folded up their shops due to the erratic power supply, “it has also led to high level of insecurity in these communities.”
He said the association brought its complaint before NERC because it believe in its(NERC) ability, as the only one that could resolve the problem.
“Our prayers before NERC are that IBDC should give us uninterrupted power supply, and that IBDC should reverse the outrageous billing.
“People are being billed what they do not owed, IBDC is using band A which is N62.33k to bill us instead of band E which is N24.97k.
“Today, NERC team, chaired by Engr. Olayiwola Oyelade, has patiently listened to our prayers and saw that our prayers are genuine; it has therefore directed the IBDC to go and complete the backfeeding from Iwo, to be able to connect us to Iwo Transmission Station.
“Other resolution is on the billing, it has asked the IBDC to go and reverse all accumulated billing between now and the next three months.
“We are to report back here in early March 2021, for an update on the directive given to the IBDC.
“We, as complainants, have resolved to be patient till the expiration of three months issued by NERC because we do not want to overflog issue, so by the time we return here in March for the next sitting of NERC we would now see how things will be.” The chairman stated.
In her response, Mrs Dupe Adesoga, Monatan Business Manager, on behalf of the IBDC, said the company was never for once insensitive to the plight of any of its customers.
She admitted that though Lalupon/Iwo road communities have challenges but IBDC has been trying to resolve the problem of the erratic power supply.
According to her, solving the problem is a process which the company has prioritise and she promised that the company would intensify efforts in ensuring that the communities concerned have stable supply of electricity.
Scores of Lalupon/ Iwo road residents besieged the venue of the NERC sitting, at Iyaganku quarters in Ibadan, carrying placards with various inscriptions calling on IBDC to give them stable power supply.
