The Abia State House of Assembly has on its own part passed
a vote of no confidence on the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC),
over extortion, issuance of estimated, spurious and crazy bills.
This is even as members of Aba Landlords Protection and
Development Association (ALPADA) have taken their case against the company to
the Senate.
The Abia Assembly passed the vote of no confidence on EEDC following
a Matter of Urgent Public Importance on what they described as mindless
extortion by EEDC and a petition written by a widow , accusing the company of
exposing her to untold hardship through outrageous bills.
The matter was presented by the Deputy Speaker, Sir Cosmos
Ndukwe, as a result of which the state Chairman of National Electricity
Regulatory commission wa s invited to appear before the Executive session of
the House on May 17, 2017 on the way forward to the ugly activities of the
company.
It would be recalled that the landlords, who earlier
petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari on the activities of EEDC, observed that
Aba residents have lost billions of Naira to the company through unwholesome
practices in bill estimation.
They stated that they were aware that the meter
reading, billing, cash collection and credit management for electricity supply
regulation of 2007 tasks officers to obtain the actual
reading of meter before billing for electricity consumed and decried
that the officers instead of reading meters,
would send estimated, over bloated and crazy bills to their
members who have installed meters in their houses.
When it appeared that response was not forth coming from the
presidency, the Landlords, led by their President General , Chief Alphonsus A.
Udeigbo, wrote to the Senate , alleging the above mentioned offenses
against the company.
Consequently, both the Association and the
Company were invited to appear before the senate in Abuja, but on the
scheduled date, representatives of the company allegedly refused to come.
They also alleged that the Company is insisting on
consumers paying for the repairs and maintenance of damaged electric cables,
transformers and concrete poles.
The Aba landlords also expressed dismay that during the
public hearing which was fixed on 30th day of March 2017, they were
present at the Senate, while EEDC officers did not show up.
Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and
Public Petition have promised to extend another invitation to the company in a
future date, and asked the Landlords to ensure that they are present for them
to know the next line of action.
By Chuks Onuoha, Umuahia
